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LIBRARY  FAC 

1 

LITY 

he  Deportation  of  Women  and 
Girls  from  Lille 

Translated  textually  from  the  Note  addressed  by  the  French 
Government  to  the  Governments  of  Neutral  Powers  on  the 
conduct  of  the  German  Authorities  towards  the  population 
of  the  French  Departments  in  the  occupation  of  the  enemy. 

\With  Extracts  from  Other  Documents,  Annexed 
\To   the   Note   Relating    to    German    Breaches    of 
nternational  Law  During  1914^  1915,  1916, 


THE  DEPORTATION 
OF  WOMEN  AND  # 
GIRLS  FROM  LILLE. 


Translated  textually  from  the  Note  ad>= 
dressed  by  the  French  Government  to 
the  Governments  of  Neutral  Powers  on 
the  conduct  of  the  German  Authorities 
towards  the  population  of  the  French 
Departments  in  the  occupation  of  the 
enemy. 


WITH 


EXTRACTS  FROM  OTHER  DOCUMENTS, 
ANNEXED  TO  TUE  NOTE,  RELATING 
TO  GERMAN  MVEACHES  OF  INTER= 
NATIONAL  LA^  DURING   1914,  1915,  1916. 


r  ^m^^funyTf*^'^ 


NEW  YORK: 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/deportationofwomOOfran 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE, 
Circular  covering  the  Note  to  the  Diplomatic  Agents 
of  France  ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         3 

Note  of  the  Government  of  the  French  Republic      ...         4 

Annexes  :  — 

A.  Documents  relating  to  the  deportation  and  disper- 

sion   of    women,    girls    and    men    from    Lille, 
Roubaix,  Tourcoing  (April,  1916)  9 

I.  German  Documents  :  — 

Proclamation  of  the  Military  Commandant  at 
Lille      10 

Proclamation     of    the     ''  Etappen-Komman- 
dantur  "  10 

II.  French  Documents  :  — 

Protests  by  the  French  Government  ...         ...        11 

Reply  of  the  German  Government    ...         ...        14 

Reply  of  the  French  Government     ...         ...        14 

Various  Documents :  — 

Protests  by  the  Mayor  and  the  Bishop  of 
Lille         15 

Various  Letters  ...         ...         ...         ...        16 

B.  DeiX)sitions     concerning     forced     labour     in     the 

Departments  in  Gei-man  occupation       ...         ...       35 

C.  Official  French  and  Geiman  Documents  concerning 

forced  labour  ...         ...         ...         ...         ...       75 


(9008r— 8.)  A  2 


THE  DEPORTATION  of  WOMEN  AND  GIRLS 

FROM  LILLE. 


Letter  enclosing  the  Note  to  the  Powers. 


The  President  of  the  Council  and  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  to  the 
Diplomatic  Representatives  of  the  French  Republic,  Paris,  2bth 
J^ihj,  1916. 

I  have  requested  you  to  call  the  attention  of  the  government  to  which 
you  are  accredited  to  the  treatment  to  which  the  population  of  Lille, 
Roubaix,  and  Tourcoing'  have  been  subjected  by  the  German  authorities 
(Ann.  5).  I  informed  you  that  I  was  in  receipt  of  a  number  of  com- 
munications on  this  subject. 

In  view  of  the  facts  which  have  been  revealed  to  it,  the  French 
Government  cannot  think  it  sufficient  to  cite  the  3rd  Article  of  the  Con- 
vention of  the  Hague  relating  to  the  laws  and  customs  of  land  warfare, 
or  to  anticipate  the  indemnity  for  which  Germany  will  be  held  respon- 
sible on  the  score  of  the  breaches  of  the  Regulations  committed  by  persons 
belonging  to  her  armed  forces;  the  Government  would  feel  itself  guilty 
of  a  grave  failure  of  duty  if  it  did  not  endeavour  to  bring  some  remedial 
measures  to  bear  on  these  sufferings. 

Until  the  fortune  of  war  enables  us  to  reconquer  the  occupied  districts, 
the  only  means  of  furthering  this  effort  is  to  make  an  urgent  appeal, 
in  the  name  of  justice  and  of  humanity,  to  the  neutral  Powers  and  to 
the  public  opinion  of  all  nations. 

I  therefore  beg  you  to  communicate  the  annexed  Note  to  the  Govern- 
ment to  which  you  are  accredited,  and  to  call  its  most  serious  attention 
to  the  document. 

This  Note  embodies  the  protest  of  the  French  Government  against  the 
facts  which  it  thereby  brings  to  the  knowledge  of  the  civilised  world ; 
the  Note  is  supported  by  much  documentary  evidence  which  is  annexed 
to  it. 

If  our  compatriots  in  enemy  countries  have  a  means  of  defence  in  the 
devoted  zeal  of  the  Governments  charged  with  the  protection  of  French 
interests,  the  same  is  not  the  case  with  our  fellow-citizens  in  the  territory 
for  the  administration  of  which  Germany  is  temporarily  responsible. 

In  the  name  of  military  necessities — which  it  has  not  allowed  to  stand 
in  the  way  of  certain  publicists  being  allowed  access  to  its  front — the 
German  Government  has,  up  to  the  present,  refused  to  allow  representa- 
tives of  neutral  Powers  to  be  sent  to  the  invaded  Departments.  Without 
doubt  it  fears  the  impression  which  would  be  produced  abroad  by  a 
knowledge  of  the  situation  to  which  the  unhappy  resident  population  is 
reduced.  Time  has  been  necessary  to  collect  and  arrange  the  evidence 
establishing  the  guilt  of  the  German  authorities  for  the  events  of  Holy 
Week,  1916.  To  these  documents  we  add  all  the  others  which  attest  the 
various  abuses  to  which  our  compatriots  of  the  occupied  districts  have 
been  subjected  since  the  beginning  of  the  war. 

The  German  Government  has  paid  no  attention  to  the  successive  sug- 
gestions which  have  been  made  to  it  with  a  view  to  putting  an  end  to 


a  state  of  affairs  wliicli  violates  all  international  engagements,  and  thus 
leaves  the  population  of  these  districts  under  the  constant  menace  of 
new  severities.  All  our  protests  having  proved  idle,  we  lay  to-day  our 
proofs  before  the  neutral  Powers,  confident  of  the  judgment  which  the 
conscience  of  the  world  will  pronounce  upon  the  facts. 

Naturally,  it  has  been  impossible  for  the  French  Government  itself 
to  check  every  detail  of  the  information  contained  in  the  documentary 
evidence  laid  before  it,  inasmuch  as  it  relates  to  matters  which  occurred 
in  territory  still  occuj^ied  by  the  enemy.  But  the  evidence  collected 
comes  from  so  many  sources,  is  so  much  to  the  same  effect,  and  is  given 
by  persons  of  such  great  respectability,  character,  and  trustworthiness, 
that  it  will  carry  a  conviction  of  its  general  truth.  The  mistakes,  if  any, 
will  not  invalidate  the  general  conclusion ;  they  can  be  of  only  secondary 
importance. 

It  remains  to  observe  that  if  the  German  Government's  intention  is  to 
impugn  our  information,  the  course  incumbent  upon  it  is  to  agree  to  an 
impartial  investigation,  and,  in  pursuance  of  this  object,  to  authorise 
the  neutral  Powers  to  institute  an  enquiry,  especially  upon  the  events 
which  occurred  at  Lille,  Roubaix,  Tourcoing,  and  the  adjacent  com- 
munes between  the  22nd  and  the  29th  April,  1916.  A  refusal  on  its  part 
would  involve  an  acknowledgment  of  the  truth  of  the  facts  alleged. 

(Signed)         A.  BET  AND. 


Note  of  the  Government  of  the  French  Republic  on  the  Conduct  of 
THE  German  Authgritie.s  towards  the  Population  of  the  French 
Departments  occupied  by  the  Enemy. 

On  several  occasions^  the  Government  of  the  Republic  has  had  occasion 
to  bring  to  the  notice  of  neutral  Powers  the  action  of  the  German 
military  authorities  towards  the  population  of  the  French  territory  tem- 
porarily occupied  bj-  them  as  being  in  conflict  with  treaty  rights. 

The  Government  of  the  Republic  finds  itself  to-day  obliged  to  lay 
before  foreign  governments  documents  which  will  establish  that  our 
enemies  have  put  in  force  measures  still  more  inconsistent  with  humanity. 

By  order  of  General  von  Graevenitz,  and  with  the  support  of  Infantry 
Regiment  No.  64,  detailed  for  the  purpose  by  the  German  General  Head- 
quarters, about  25,000  French — consisting  of  girls  between  16  and  20 
years  of  age,  young  women,  and  men  up  to  the  age  of  55 — without  regard 
to  social  position,^  were  torn  from  their  homes  at  Roubaix,  Tourcoing, 
and  Lille,  separated  ruthlessly  from  their  families,  and  compelled  to  do 
agricultural  work  in  the  Departments  of  the  Aisne  and  the  Ardennes. 

Better  than  any  comment  which  we  can  make,  the  official  notices  of 
the  German  authorities,  the  despairing  protests  of  the  Mayor  and  the 


(')  Notably,  in  August  last,  a  French  Note  denounced  the  behaviour  of  the  Germans 
who  at  Lille,  at  Roubaix,  and  in  the  neighbouring  villages,  compelled  women  and  girls  to 
make  sandbags,  work  directly  connected  with  military  operations.     (Ann.  243.) 

(')  The  removals  were  made  without  regard  to  social  position.  It  appears,  however, 
that  some  discrimination  was  effected  later  on,  after  an  examination  of  such  hands  as 
appeared  incapable  of  agricultural  labour.  This  measure — in  which  humanity  bore  no 
part — does  nothing  to  lessen  the  odium  of  removals,  which,  none  the  less,  involved  keen 
distress  to  families.  If  the  Germans  hoped  by  these  means  to  create  a  class  antagonism 
in  a  population  united  against  the  invader,  the  examples  of  devotion,  quoted  in  Annexes  13 
and  19,  prove  their  failure. 


Bishop  of  Lille,  and  extracts  from  the  letters  received  from  these  locali- 
ties which  follow  (Ann.  A)  will  throw  lig'ht  upon  this  new  outrage  com- 
mitted by  the  Imperial  German  Government. 

The  Minister  of  War,  under  date  of  the  30th  June,  1916,  gives  us  the 
following  accounts  of  these  occurrences :  — 

Not  content  with  subjecting  our  people  in  the  North  to  every  kind  of  oppres- 
sion, the  Germans  have  recently  treated  them  in  the  most  iniquitous  way. 

In  contempt  of  rules  universally  recognised  and  of  their  own  express  promises 
not  to  molest  the  civil  population,  they  have  taljeu  women  and  girls  away  from 
their  families  ;  they  have  sent  them  off,  mixed  up  with  men,  to  destinations 
unknown,  to  work  unknown. 

In  the  early  days  of  April,  official  notices  offered  to  families  needing  work  a 
settlement  in  the  country — in  the  Department  of  the  Nord — with  work  in  the 
fields  or  at  tree-felling  {A)ui.  28). 

Finding  this  overture  unsuccessful,  the  Germans  decided  to  have  recourse  to 
compulsion.  From  the  9th  April  onwards  they  resorted  to  raids — in  the 
streets,  in  the  houses — carrying  off  men  and  girls  indiscriminately,  and  sending 
them  Heaven  knows  where  {A?in.  12-32). 

A  wider  scope  and  a  more  methodical  application  were  soon  given  to  the 
measure.  A  General  and  a  large  force  arrived  at  Lille  (Ami.  13,  21,  22), 
among  others  the  64th  Regiment  from  Verdun  {Ann.  13,  19,  24). 

On  the  29th  and  30th  April,  the  public  were  warned  by  proclamation  to  be 
prepared  for  a  compulsory  evacuation  (Ann.  21). 

The  Mayor  entered  an  immediate  protest,  the  Bishop  tried  to  gain  access  to  the 
local  Commandant,  local  worthies  wrote  letters  of  protest  (Aiin.  10,  11,  16,  22, 
23,  28). 

No  effect  !  On  Holy  Saturday,  at  three  in  the  morning,  methodical  raids 
began  at  Lille  in  the  Fives  quarter,  in  the  Marlierejquarter  of  Tourcoing,  and  at 
Roubaix.  After  a  suspension  on  Easter  Sunday,  the  work  went  on  all  the  week, 
ending  up  in  the  Saint  Maurice  quarter  of  Lille  (Ann.  22). 

About  three  in  the  morning,  troops,  with  fixed  bayonets,  barred  the  streets, 
machine  guns  commanded  the  road,  against  unarmed  people  (Ann.  14,  15, 
16,  22). 

Soldiers  made  their  way  into  the  houses.  The  officer  pointed  out  the  people 
who  were  to  go,  and,  half  an  hour  later,  everybody  was  marched  pell-mell 
into  an  adjacent  factory,  and  from  there  to  the  station,  whence  the  departure 
took  place  (Aji?/.  2,  13,  16,  23,  32). 

Mothers  with  children  under  14  were  spared  (Ami.  2,  13,  14,  16). 

Girls  under  20  were  deported  only  when  accompanied  by  one  of  their  family. 
This  in  no  way  relieves  the  barbarity  of  the  proceeding.  Soldiers  of  the  Land- 
sturm  blushed  to  be  employed  on  such  work  (Ann.  20). 

The  victims  of  this  brutal  act  displayed  the  greatest  courage.  They  were  heard 
crying  "  V^ive  la  France,"  and  singing  the  Marseillaise  in  the  cattle-trucks  in 
which  they  were  carried  off  (A7in.  14,  20,  32). 

It  is  said  that  the  men  are  employed  in  agriculture,  road-mending,  the  making 
of  munitions  and  trench  digging  (Ann.  22). 

The  women  are  employed  in  cooking  and  laundry-work  for  the  soldiers  and  as 
substitutes  for  officers'  servants  (Ayin.  19,  22). 

For  this  severe  work,  housemaids,  domestic  servants  and  factory  women  have 
been  taken  by  preference  (Ann.  20,  22). 

No  servants  are  left  in  the  Rue  Royale  at  Lille  (A7in.  19). 

But  some  brave  girls   of    the   upper    middle-class  have  come   forward  and 

refused  to  allow  the  working-class  girls  to  go  alone.      The  names  of  Miles  B 

and  de  B are  mentioned  as  having  insisted  on  accompanying  the  girls  of 

their  district  (Ann.  13,  19.) 

The  unfortunate  people,  thus  requisitioned,  have  been  scattered  from  Secliu 
and  Templeuve  (Ann.  19,  22,  28),  as  far  as  the  Ardennes  (Ann.  19,  20,  28,  32). 

Their  number  is  estimated  at  about  25,000,  from  the  towns  of  Lille,  Roubaix, 
and  Tourcoing  (Ann.  19). 

The  Quartier  de  la  Place  at  Lille,  the  communes  of  Loos,  Haubourdin,  la 
Madeleine,  and  Lambersart  are  said  to  have  been  spared. 

Une(j nailed  emotion  was  felt  by  the  population  of  the  Noi'th  of  France, 
without  distinction  of  classes,  during  these  daj's  of  Holy  Week.^ 


(')  See  the  letter  of  the  30th  April,  addressed  to  M.  Jules  Cambon,  Secretary -General 
to  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs,  formerly  French  Ambassador  at  Berlin  and  an  ex- 
Prefect  of  Lille  (Ann.  12,  13) 


6 

These  measures  surpass  in  inhumanity  those  previously  adopted.  It  is, 
however,  necessary  to  return  to  the  latter. 

It  appears  necessary  to  compare  the  documents  annexed  to  this  Note 
with  a  reply  given  by  the  German  Government  (Ajui.  244)  to  a  previous 
complaint  relating  to  work  enforced,  in  violation  of  the  Convention,  on 
the  civil  population  of  Landrecies  and  Hancourt  (Aim.  242). 

After  declaring  that  at  Landrecies  the  French  who  are  liable  to 
military  service  have  work  suitable  to  their  profession  assigned  to  them, 
the  German  Government  asserts  that  at  Landrecies,  Hancourt,  and  every- 
where else  the  population  of  the  occupied  French  districts  is  treated  with 
justice  and  perfect  humanity. 

The  documents  annexed  to  the  present  Note  will  show  the  value  of 
this  assertion.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  men  liable  to  military  service  having 
been  forced  to  work;  women,  and  girls  between  16  and  20,  have  been 
taken  into  captivity  and  sent  into  exile. 

Does  the  German  Government,  denying  the  principles,  the  sanctity  of 
which  it  accepted  in  the  Hague  Convention,  maintain  that  a  belligerent 
has  the  right  to  compel  enemy  civilians  to  work? 

In  a  Note  dated  the  22nd  March,  1916  (Ann.  245),  it  stated  that  it 
felt  compelled  to  "  request  the  French  Government  to  issue  orders  to  all 
commandants  of  internment  camps  on  the  subject  of  forced  labour,  and 
to  require  a  formal  declaration  with  regard  to  the  matter." 

This  declaration  was  made  to  the  Imperial  Government  on  several 
occasions  and  in  the  most  definite  form.  How  can  that  Government 
reconcile  its  claim  in  respect  to  interned  German  civilians — whom  it 
declares  not  to  be  liable  to  forced  labour — with  its  admission  that 
French  civilians,  liable  to  military  service,  but  at  liberty,  are  constrained 
to  labour,  or  with  the  disgraceful  measures  taken  at  Eoubaix  and  Lille 
with  regard  to  women  and  girls? 

In  orders  placarded  at  Lille  the  German  military  avithority  has 
endeavoured  to  justify  the  wholesale  deportations  ordered  at  Lille  and 
Eoubaix  as  a  retaliation  for  the  attitude  of  England  in  making 
the  provisioning  of  the  population  increasingly  difl&cult  (Ann.  1). 
Nothing  can  justify  such  a  barbarous  measure.  Seizure  of  contra- 
band and  interference  with  enemy  commerce  are  acts  of  war;  deporta- 
tion of  the  population  without  military  necessity  is  not  an  act  of  war. 
Moreover,  to  dispose  of  this  pretended  justification,  it  is  sufficient  to 
show  that  Germany  has  not  only  stripped — for  her  own  profit — the 
occupied  districts  of  all  the  products  which  would  have  ensured  the 
subsistence  of  the  inhabitants,  but  also,  previously  to  any  inter- 
ference with  enemy  commerce,  organised  for  her  own  benefit  the 
exploitation  of  the  labour  of  French  civilians. 

To  show  this,  extracts  from  the  depositions  of  French  citizens  who 
have  been  evacuated  from  the  invaded  Departments  are  annexed  to  the 
present  Note  (Ann.  B). 

These  depositions  were  made  on  oath  before  the  magistrates  of  the 
districts  where  the  evacuated  people  found  asylum  in  all  parts  of  France, 
by  refugees  from  all  points  of  the  invaded  Departments. 

They  were  made  in  response  to  a  form  of  enquiry  in  which  the  question 
of  forced  labour  was  not  in  contemplation — it  was  too  much  at  variance 


with  international  law.  They  emanate  from  persons  of  all  ages  and 
conditions,  and  their  absolute  agreement  (more  than  two  hundred  have 
been  taken)  proves  that  the  civil  population  of  the  Departments  occupied 
by  the  German  troops  has  been  reduced  to  absolute  servitude  by  the 
army  of  occupation. 

Article  52  of  the  regulations  annexed  to  the  Fourth  Convention  of 
the  Hague  permits  requisitions  in  kind  and  in  services  for  the  needs  of 
the  army  of  occupation.  In  the  recorded  depositions  there  is  no  question 
of  any  regular  form  of  requisitions.  Services,  sometimes  of  a  most 
repulsive  nature,  have  been  forcibly  imposed  (Anji.  B-i.)  on  the  entire 
civil  population,  without  distinction  of  sex,(^)  age,(^)  or  social  position. (^) 
These  unhappy  people  had  to  present  themselves  for  the  work  imposed 
on  them  by  night  or  by  day  {Ann.  88-91),  at  all  sorts  of  places  and  at 
great  distances  from  their  homes, (^)  sometimes  even  under  artillery 
fire,(^)  in  most  cases  without  any  kind  of  remuneration, C^)  in  others  for 
a  few  crusts  of  bread  {Ann.  B-viii.  and  Ann.  122.  230). 

The  German  military  authority  has  never  concerned  itself  with  the 
care  of  the  population  which  the  war  has  brought  under  its  provisional 
administration.  The  products  of  the  forced  labour  of  the  population 
has  been  transported  to  Germany  in  spite  of  the  absolute  destitution  of 
the  workers. (^) 

Finally,  it  can  be  established  from  these  depositions  that  the  German 
authorities  have  not  hesitated  to  compel  the  population  to  take  part  in 
military  operations  against  their  own  eonntr  j  {Ann.  B-x.) ;  they  have  even 
obliged  them  to  assist  in  pillaging  their  own  countryside !  {Ann.  95, 
158-160). 

They  have  employed  them  as  direct  auxiliaries  of  the  combatant 
forces,  either  by  placing  them  in  front  of  the  German  troops  to  serve 
as  shields  {Ann.  73,  161,  164,  173,  183,  186,  210)  or  by  compelling  them 
to  do  work  in  connection  with  military  operations  {Ann.  B-xi.  and  Ann. 
86,  100). 

Where  this  working  material — for  there  is  no  more  a  question  of 
human  beings  but  of  mere  machines  moved  from  place  to  place  as 
required — w^here  tliis  human  material  gives  out  in  certain  districts  of 
the  occupied  territory,  the  German  authorities  draw  without  limit 
either  on  the  internment  camps  where,  contrary  to  all  law,  the 
mobilisable  men  belonging  to  this  territory  have  been  confined  {Ann. 
B-vi.),  or  on  the  other  invaded  districts.  The  jjeople  are  not  sent  back  to 
their  former  homes.  These  civilians  are  formed  into  regiments  and, 
although  the  Germans  themselves  acknowledge  that  the^^  ought  not  to 
be  compelled  to  work,  they  are  sent  to  any  point  of  the  districts  occupied 
by  the  German  army  and  compelled  to  perform  the  most  severe  labour. (**) 
And  when  France  demands,  in  the  name  of  some  agonised  family,  infor- 
mation as  to  the  fate  of  an  unhappy  exile,  the  German  Government 
replies  {Ann.  104)  that  the  military  authorities  do  not  consider  themselves 


(')  Ann.  B-iii.  and  Ann.  35,  55,  126,  184,  185,  230. 

(')  Ann.  B-iU.  and  Ann.  55,  100,  152,  171,  174,  179,  184,  198,  207,  210. 

(')  Ann.  B-ii.  and  Ann.  00,  95,  118. 

(*)  Ann.  B-v.  and  Ann.  200,  225. 

(*)  Ann.  88-91. 

(«)  Ann.  B-vii.  and  Ann.  .^5,  52,  73,  89,  100,  151. 

(')  Ann.  B-ix.  and  Ann.  69,  86,  116,  159,  202,  217. 

(»)  An7t.  95,  96,  105,  106,  114,  116-120,  202,  210,  226,  241. 


8 

under  an}-  obligation  to  explain  their  reasons  for  these  transference.^. 
For  entire  months  it  is  impossible  to  find  out  what  has  become  of  the 
unhappy  people  {Ann.  B-vi.). 

The  indisputable  result  of  the  following"  declarations,  read  as  a  whole, 
is  that,  without  any  immediate  necessity,  not  in  the  excitement  of 
battle — moments  which  might  excuse  the  violations  of  international 
law  committed  by  the  German  authorities — those  authorities,  in  pur- 
suance of  a  deliberate  purpose  and  according  to  a  predetermined  method, 
have  reduced  the  unfortunate  population  of  the  invaded  districts  to  a 
condition  which  can  be  likened  only  to  slavery. 

In  1885,  at  the  time  of  the  African  Conference  of  Berlin — with  respect 
to  which  Germany  had  taken  the  initiative — she  engaged,  so  far  as  the 
African  territories  subject  to  her  sovereignty  or  her  influence  were  con- 
cerned, to  preserve  the  native  populations  and  to  improve  their  material 
and  moral  conditions  of  life. 

After  having  collected  the  information,  of  necessity  very  restricted, 
which  reaches  it  from  invaded  France  and  which  it  submits  to  the 
consideration  of  the  Neutral  Powers,  the  Government  of  the  Eepublic 
is  entitled  to  doubt  whether  the  German  authorities  are  observing,  with 
regard  to  the  populations  of  which  it  has  for  the  moment  the  charge, 
the  engagements  entered  into  by  the  Imperial  Government  in  respect 
to  the  black  populations  of  Central  Africa. 

A.  BRIAND, 

President  of  the  Council. 
Minister    of    Foreign    Affairs, 


Until  a  more  complete  code  of  the  law&  of  war 
can  be  issued,  the  High  Contracting  Parties  think  it 
expedient  to  declare  that  in  cases  not  included  in  the 
Regulations  adopted  by  them,  the  populations  and 
belligerents  remain  under  the  protection  and  the  rule 
of  the  principles  of  the  Law  of  Nations,  as  they 
result  from  the  usages  established  between  civilised 
nations,  from  the  laws  of  humanity,  and  the  re- 
quirements of  the  public  conscience. 

{Hague  Convention,  18th  October,  1907  ;  Laws 
and  Customs  of  War  oti  Land — Preamble.) 

All  the  Powers  exercising  the  right  of  sovereignty 
or  exercising  influence  in  the  said  territories  engage 
to  preserve  the  native  populations,  to  ameliorate 
their  moral  and  material  conditions  of  life,  and  to 
co-operate  in  the  suppression  of  slavery  and  above  all 
of  the  slave-trade. 

(^General  Act  of  the  African   Conference  of 
Berlin,  1SS5,  Article  6.) 

Family  honour  and  rights,  the  lives  of  individuals 
and  private  property,  as  well  as  religious  convictions 
and  liberty  of  worship,  must  be  respected. 

{Hague     Convention,     18th      October,    1907, 
Article  46.) 


AMEXES.-A. 


DOCUMENTS  RELATINd 

TO   THE  WHOLESALE  DEPOKTATION  ANl)  DISPERSION 

OF  WOMEN,  GIRLS,  AND  MEN.  FROM 

LILLE,  ROUBAIX,  AND  TOURCOING. 

(April,  191<i.) 


10 


-GEEMAN    DOCUMENTS. 


Annexe  1. 

Proclamation  of  the  German  Military  Commandant  of  Lille. 

This  document  and  the  one  following  it,  which  were  brought  to  the  knowledge  of 
the  French  Government  from  numerous  sources  of  information  which  confirmed  one 
another,  were  placarded  at  Lille  during  Holy  Week  {Ann.  13,  21,  23,  32). 

The  attitude  of  England  makes  the  provisioning  of  the  population 
more  and  more  difficult. 

In  order  to  relieve  the  distress,  the  German  Government  has  recently 
asked  for  volunteers  to  go  to  work  in  the  country.  This  offer  has  not  had 
the  success  anticipated. 

Consequently,  the  inhabitants  will  be  evacuated  by  order  and  removed 
to  the  country.  The  evacuated  persons  will  be  sent  to  the  interior  of  the 
occupied  FremHi  territory,  far  behind  the  front,  where  they  will  be 
employed  m  agriculture,  and  in  no  way  on  military  works. 

This  measure  will  give  them  the  opportunity  of  making  better  pro- 
vision for  their  subsistence. 

In  case  of  necessity,  it  will  be  possible  to  obtain  provisions  from  the 
German  depots. 

Each  evacuated  person  will  be  allowed  30  kilogrammes  of  luggage 
(household  utensils,  clothes,  &c.),  which  it  would  be  well  to  prepare 
immediately. 

I  therefore  order  as  follows: — Pending  further  orders,  no  person 
shall  change  his  residence.  No  person  may  be  absent  from  his  declared 
legal  residence  between  the  hours  of  9  p.m.  and  6  a.m.  (German  time) 
unless  he  is  in  possession  of  a  permit. 

Since  this  measure  cannot  be  recalled,  it  is  in  the  interest  of  the 
population  itself  to  remain  calm  and  obedient. 

THE  COMMANDANT. 
Lille,  April,  1916. 


Annexe  2. 

Notice. 

(From  the  French  Text.) 

Ail  the  inhabitants  of  the  house,  with  the  exception  of  children  under 
fourteen  and  their  mothers,  and  of  the  aged,  must  prepare  themselves  to 
be  transported  within  an  hour  and  a-half. 

An  officer  will  decide  definitively  what  persons  are  to  be  taken  to  the 
concentration  camps.  For  this  purpose,  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  house 
must  assemble  in  front  of  the  house;  in  case  of  bad  weather  they  may 
remain  in  the  passage.  The  door  of  the  house  must  remain  open.  No 
protest  will  be  listened  to.  No  inhabitant  of  the  house  (even  including 
those  who  are  not  to  be  transported)  may  leave  it  before  8  a.m.  (German 
time). 

Each  person  will  be  entitled  to  30  kilogrammes  of  luggage;  if  the 
weight  is  excessive,  the  whole  of  the  luggage  of  the  person  concerned 
will  be  peremptorily  refused.  The  packages  must  be  packed  separately 
for  each  person,  and  provided  with  an  address  legibly  written  and  firmly 


11 

affixed.     The  address  must  bear  the  surname,  first  name,  and  the  number 
of  the  identity  card. 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  each  person  should,  in  his  own  interest, 
provide  himself  with  eating  and  drinking  utensils,  with  a  woollen  blanket, 
with  good  shoes  and  with  body  linen.  Every  person  must  bring  hi?; 
identity  card.  Any  person  endeavouring  to  avoid  transportation  will 
be  punished  without  mercy. 

Etappen-Kommandantur . 


II.— FRENCH  DOCUMENTS 


Protests  of  the  Feench  Government, 

Annexe  3. 

Telegram. 

FroTTi  the  Ambassador,  Secretary-General  of  the  Ministry  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  to  M.  Beau,  French  Avihassador  at  Berne,  Paris,  2~ith  June, 
191G. 

The  population  of  the  North  of  France  are  being  subjected  by  the 
German  authorities  to  a  regime  which  violates  all  the  rules  established  by 
international  law,  and  more  especially  by  the  Regulations  annexed  to  the 
Convention  of  the  Hague,  1907,  for  the  government  of  territories  occupied 
and  provisionally  administered  by  the  enemy.  Persons  of  both  sexes 
are  being  removed,  separated  from  their  families,  carried  ofi  to  distant 
places,  and  arbitrarily  comjDelled  to  perform  work  of  difierent  sorts. 
About  25,000  French  citizens,  girls  between  16  and  20,  young  women, 
men  up  to  the  age  of  58,  have  been  indiscriminately  removed  from  their 
homes  at  Roubaix,  Tourcoing,  and  Lille.  A  notice  from  the  Ivomman- 
dantur  at  Lille  was  placarded  on  the  12th  May  last,  granting  to  the 
persons  who  were  to  be  transported  the  space  of  one  hour  and  a  half  to 
make  their  preparations  for  departure,  and  threatening  recalcitrants  with 
severe  penalties.  The  Mayor  aiul  the  Bishop  of  Lille  entered  protests 
against  this  abuse  of  power. 

Kindly  request  the  Spanish  Minister  at  Berne  to  be  good  enough  to 
acquaint  His  Excellency  the  Spanish  Ambassador  at  Berlin  with  these 
facts  and  to  beg  him  to  intervene  with  all  possible  energ}^  in  order  to 
put  an  end  to  this  state  of  things  and  to  ensure  that  the  people  who 
have  been  the  victims  of  these  arbitrar\'  acts  shall  be  sent  back  to  their 
homes. 

The  Department  will  furnish  you  as  soon  as  possible  witli  copies  of 
the  documents  wliich  it  may  collect  bearing  upon  this  subject  and  upon 
tJie  position  of  the  French  population  in  the  occupied  districts. 

(Signed)         JULES  CAMBON. 


12 

Annexe  4. 

Telegram. 

From  the  Ambassador,  Secretary-General  of  the  Ministry  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  to  the  French  Amhassador  at  Berne,  Paris,  21th  June, 
1916. 

Following'  on  my  previous  telegram :  We  are  informed  that  the  girls 
belonging  to  families  of  a  certain  social  rank  have  been  returned  to  their 
relations,  but  the  great  majority  of  the  persons  removed  from  their  homes 
have  not  been  set  at  liberty. 

(Signed)        JULES  CAMBON. 


Annexe  5. 

Telegram. 

From   the  Ambassador,   Secretary-General  of  the  Ministry   of  Foreign 
Affairs,  to  the  Diplomatic  Representatives  of  France,  1st  July,  1916. 

The  French  Government  has  learnt  that  25,000  French  citizens,  men, 
women,  girls  and  children,  without  distinction  of  social  position,  have 
been  removed  from  Lille,  Roubaix,  Tourcoing,  and  the  neighbouring 
villages  and  taken  either  into  the  iuA^aded  French  Departments  or  even, 
it  is  believed,  to  Germany,  to  be  compelled  to  perform  agricultural 
labour.  On  the  12th  May  last,  the  Kommandantur  of  Lille  posted  up  a 
notice  giving  the  persons  whom  it  was  intended  to  remove  the  space  of 
one  hour  and  a  half  to  make  their  preparations  for  departure,  and 
threatening  recalcitrants  with  severe  penalties. 

The  Bishop  and  the  Mayor  of  Lille  protested  against  this  abuse  of 
force,  which  is  in  violation  at  once  of  international  law,  of  the  Con- 
ventions relating  to  the  conduct  of  war  on  land,  of  humanity,  and  of 
morality. 

The  Government  of  the  Republic  is  at  this  moment  collecting  the 
documents  which  establish  these  facts,  as  well  as  those  which  have  come 
to  its  knowledge  in  regard  to  the  general  manner  in  which  the  popula- 
tions of  the  invaded  French  districts  are  treated  by  the  occupying 
authorities. 

Without  waiting  for  the  transmission  of  these  documents,  I  beg  you 
to  bring  to  the  notice  of  the  Government  to  which  you  are  accredited 
this  fresh  violation  of  the  Law  of  Nations  by  the  German  authorities. 

We  have  requested  the  Spanish  Government,  which  is  charged  with 
the  defence  of  French  interests  in  Germany,  to  lodge  the  most  emphatic 
protest  with  the  Imperial  Government,  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  this 
state  of  things  and  to  ensure  that  the  persons  who  have  been  the  victims 
of  these  arbitrary  proceedings  shall  be  restored  to  their  homes. 

The  French  Government  is  anxious  to  present  its  most  energetic 
protest  to  the  Governments  of  all  civilised  countries. 

(Signed)         JULES  CAMBON. 


13 

Annexe  6. 

Telegram. 

From  the  Ambassador,   Secretary-General   of  the   Ministry   of  Foreign 
Affairs,  to  the  French  Ambassador  at  Madrid,  Paris,  bth  July,  1916. 

Following  on  my  telegram  of  the  27th  June: — The  Council  of 
Ministers  has  decided  that  special  representations  should  be  made  to 
His  Majesty  the  King  of  Spain  on  the  subject  of  the  removal  from  their 
homes  of  25,000  French  men  and  women  belonging  to  the  towns  of  the 
Department  of  the  Nord,  who  have  been  compelled  to  undertake  agri- 
cultural labour  in  the  other  invaded  Departments. 

The  President  of  the  Council  requests  you  to  give  effect  to  these 
urgent  representations,  laying  stress  on  the  odious  nature  of  the  measures 
taken. 

The  Mayor  of  Lille,  M.  Delesalle,  in  a  protest  addressed  to  the  German 
authority  at  the  moment  when  the  news  of  this  abuse  of  power  became 
generally  known  at  Lille,  wrote  as  follows: — "  To  destroy  and  break  up 
families,  to  tear  peaceable  citizens  by  thousands  from  their  homes,  to 
force  them  to  leave  their  property  without  protection,  constitutes  an 
act  of  a  nature  to  arouse  general  indignation."  And  Monseigneur  the 
Bishop  of  Lille,  interceding  "  in  the  name  of  the  religious  mission 
confided  to  him,"  in  defence  of  "  the  Law  of  Nature  which  the  law  of 
war  must  never  infringe,  and  of  that  eternal  morality  whose  rules 
nothing  can  suspend,"  has  protested  in  these  terms: — "To  dismember 
the  family  by  tearing  youths  and  girls  from  their  homes  is  not  war ;  it 
is  for  us  torture  and  the  worst  of  torture — unlimited  moral  torture." 

These  moving  words  have  not  prevailed  against  the  brutality  of  the 
occupying  authorities. 

They  must  be  listened  to. 

No  voice  is  more  capable  of  making  them  heard  than  that  of  the 
sovereign  of  the  country  charged  with  the  defence  of  the  interestfi  of 
our  compatriots  in  Germany. 

(Signed)        JULES  CAMBON. 


Annexe  7. 
Telegram. 

From  the  French  Ambassador  at  Madrid  to  the  President  of  the  Council 
and  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Madrid,  2nd  July,   1916. 

I  have  the  honour  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  Your  Excellency's 
telegram  dated  the  28th  June  last. 

In  accordance  with  y(jur  instructions  I  have  not  failed  to  impress  on 
His  Excellency,  M.  Gimeno,  the  ill-treatment  of  which  the  inhabitants 
of  the  invaded  districts  are  the  victims.  I  have  begged  him  to  request 
His  Excellency,  M.  Polo  de  Bernabe,  to  make  an  energetic  protest  against 
the  proceedings  of  the  German  authorities. 

(Signed)         GEOFFRAY. 


14 

Annexe  8. 

Ansu'er  of  the  German  Governnnent. 

The  German  Governmeut  admits  that  the  measures  in  question  have  been  put  into 
effective  operation  ;  the  documents  which  follow  will  show  the  conditions  under  which 
they  have  been  carried  out. 

All  the  depositions  annexed  to  the  present  Note  establish  that  the  work  enforced  on  the 
French  civil  population  has  been  solely  in  the  interests  of  Germany  herself,  and  not  only 
of  her  army  of  occupation. 

Even  should  the  German  Government  claim  to  have  established  clearly  that  the  work 
was  solely  in  the  interests  of  a  population  which  the  intervention  of  the  Spanish -American 
Committees  would  have  been  adequate  to  provision  by  other  means,  it  remains  none  the 
less  the  fact  that  the  method  employed  is  contrary  to  humanity  and  must  revolt  the 
conscience  of  every  free  people. 

Telegram. 

From  the  French  Ambassador  at  Berne  to  the  President  of  the  Council 
and  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  bth  July,  1916. 

His  Excellency  the  Spanish  Ambassador  at  Berlin  telegraphs  as 
follows  in  reply  to  the  communication  made  to  him  in  pursuance  of  the 
instructions  contained  in  your  teleg-ram  of  the  27th  June:  — 

"  The  German  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  has  declared  to  me 
verbally  that  the  persons  referred  to  in  the  telegram  of  the  29th 
June — to  a  number  with  which  he  is  not  acquainted — are  employed 
on  harvest  work,  for  the  benefit  of  the  occupied  provinces,  in  order 
to  procure  food  for  the  inhabitants,  who  would  otherwise  die  of 
starvation  as  a  result  of  the  policy  pursued  against  Germany  by 
France  and  England." 

(Signed)         BEATJ. 


Annexe  9. 

Telegram. 

Fron\   the   Ambassador^  Secretary-General   of  the   Ministry   of  Foreign 
Affairs,  to  the  French  Ambassador  at  Madrid,  Paris,  8th  July,  1916. 

I  communicate  to  you  herewith  the  telegram  of  which  I  am  in  receipt 
from  our  Ambassador  at  Berne  :  — 

(Telegram  of  the  bth  July.     Ann.  8.) 

If  the  occupying  authority  has  experienced  difficulties  in  finding 
the  voluntary  labour  necessary  for  agricultural  operations,  the 
reason  is  that  since  the  last  harvest,  the  workers  have  not  enjoyed 
the  fruits  of  their  labour.  Just  as  in  the  case  of  raw  materials 
and  of  industrial  equipment,  the  produce  of  the  earth  has  been 
requisitioned  and  sent  to  Germany.  We  may  be  allowed,  then,  to 
doubt  to-day  whether  the  crops  resulting  from  the  labour  enforced 
under  the  cruel  conditions  with  which  you  are  acquainted  will 
be  used  for  the  benefit  of  our  compatriots — who  are,  moreover,  pro- 
visioned by  the  Spanish- American  Commission. 

Whatever  may  be  the  motives  of  the  measure  taken,  it  is,  owing 
to  the  method  by  which  it  is  effected,  absolutely  contrary  to  the 
Law  of  Nations  and  to  humanity.  The  French  who  have  been  torn 
from  their  homes  and  forced  to  perform  this  labour  must  be  set  at 
liberty  as  quickly  as  possible. 


15 

In  bringing  the  foregoing  information  to  tlie  notice  of  the  Spaniali 
Government,  I  beg  you  to  request  that  Government  to  make  renewed 
representations  on  this  subject  to  the  German  Government. 

(Signed)         JULES  CAMBON, 


YARIOFS    DOCUMENTS. 

Annexe  10. 
Protest  of  the  Mayor  of  Lille. 


This  document,  as  also  the  one  which  follows,  has  been  communicated  to  the  French 
Government,  which  is  in  possession  of  confirmatory  evidence  in  regard  to  it  from  severiil 
different  sources. 

Monsieur  le  Gouverneur, 

Being  still  convalescent  from  illness  and  confined  to  the  house,  I  hear,  with 
inexpressible  emotion,  intelligence  which  I  still  wish  to  be  able  to  discredit. 
I  am  informed  that  the  German  authority  entertains  the  intention  of 
deporting  a  considerable  portion  of  our  population  and  of  removing  them  to 
other  parts  of  the  occupied  territory.  After  the  oflBcial  declaration  which 
you  placarded  on  the  walls,  to  the  effect  that  the  war  was  not  waged 
against  civilians,  that  the  rights,  property,  and  liberty  of  the  population 
would  be  guaranteed  to  them  on  the  sole  condition  that  they  remained  quiet, 
I  could  not  have  believed  that  such  a  measure  would  be  resorted  to.  If  such 
is  to  be  the  case,  as  first  magistrate  of  our  city,  I  must  permit  myself  to 
express  the  most  energetic  protest  against  what  I  should  consider  as  a  gross 
violation  of  the  Law  of  Nations  as  universally  recognized. 

To  destroy  and  break  up  families,  to  tear  peaceable  citizens  by  thousands 
from  their  homes,  to  force  them  to  leave  their  property  without  protection, 
constitutes  an  act  of  a  nature  to  arouse  general  indignation.  Our  soldiers, 
like  yourp,  are  doing  their  duty  valiantly,  but  all  the  international  conven- 
tions agree  in  leaving  the  civil  population  outside  the  scope  of  this  terrible 
conflict. 

I  venture,  therefore,  to  hope,  Your  Excellency,  that  such  an  eventuality 
will  not  come  to  pass. 

(Signed)         DELESALLE, 

Mayor  of  Lille. 


Annexe  11. 

Protest  of  Monseigneur  Charost,  Bishop  of  Lille,  addressed   to  General 

von  Graevenitz. 

Monsieur  le  General, 

It  is  my  duty  to  bring  to  your  notice  the  fact  that  a  very  agitated  state  of 
mind  exists  among  the  population. 

Numerous  removals  of  women  and  girls,  certain  transfers  of  men  and 
youths,  and  even  of  children,  have  been  carried  out  in  the  districts  of 
Tourcoing  and  Roubaix  without  judicial  procedure  or  trial. 

The  unfortunate  people  have  been  sent  to  unknown  places.  Measures 
equally  extreme  and  on  a  larger  scale  are  contemplated  at  Lille.  You  will 
not  be  surprised,  Monsieur  le  G^n^ral,  that  I  intercede  with  you  in  the 
name  of  the  religious  mission  confided  to  me.  That  mission  lays  on  me  the 
burden  of  defending,  with  respect  but  with  courage,  the  Law  of  Nations, 
which  the  law  of  war  must  never  infringe,  and  that  eternal  morality,  whose 

9098  B 


16 

rules  nothing  can  suspend.  It  makes  it  my  duty  to  protect  the  feeble  and 
the  unarmed,  who  are  as  my  family  to  me  and  whose  burdens  and  sorrows 
are  mine. 

You  are  a  father  ;  you  know  that  there  is  not  in  the  order  of  humanity  a 
right  more  honourable  or  more  holy  than  that  of  the  family.  For  every 
Christian  the  inviolability  of  God,  who  created  the  family,  attaches  to  it. 
The  German  oflBcers  who  have  been  billeted  for  a  long  time  in  our  homes  know 
how  deep  in  our  hearts  we  of  the  North  hold  family  affection  and  that  it  is 
the  sweetest  thing  in  life  to  us.  Thus,  to  dismember  the  family,  by  tearing 
youths  and  girls  from  their  homes,  is  not  war ;  it  is  for  us  torture  and  the 
worst  of  tortures — unlimited  moral  torture.  The  violation  of  family 
rights  is  doubled  by  a  violation  of  the  sacred  demands  of  morality. 
Morality  is  exposed  to  perils,  the  mere  idea  of  which  revolts  every  honest 
man,  from  the  promiscuity  which  inevitably  accompanies  removals  en  masses 
involving  mixture  of  the  sexes,  or,  at  all  events,  of  persons  of  very  unequal 
moral  standing.  Young  girls  of  irreproachable  life — who  have  never 
committed  any  worse  offence  than  that  of  trying  to  pick  up  some  bread  or  a 
few  potatoes  to  feed  a  numerous  family,  and  who  have,  besides,  paid  the  light 
penalty  for  such  trespass — have  been  carried  off.  Their  mothers,  who  have 
watched  so  closely  over  them,  and  had  no  other  joy  than  that  of  keeping 
their  daughters  beside  them,  in  the  absence  of  father  and  sons  fighting 
or  killed  at  the  front — these  mothers  are  now  alone.  They  bring  to  me 
their  despair  and  their  anguish.  I  am  speaking  of  what  I  have  seen  and 
heard.  I  know  that  you  have  no  part  in  these  harsh  measures.  You 
are  by  nature  inclined  towards  justice ;  that  is  why  I  venture  to  turn  to 
you ;  I  beg  you  to  be  good  enough  to  forward  without  delay  to  the  German 
High  Military  Command  this  letter  from  a  Bishop,  whose  deep  grief  they  will 
easily  imagine.  We  have  suffered  much  for  the  last  twenty  months,  but  no 
stroke  of  fortune  could  be  comparable  to  this ;  it  would  be  as  undeserved  as 
it  is  cruel  and  would  produce  in  all  France  an  indelible  impression.  I  cannot 
believe  that  the  blow  will  fall.  I  have  faith  in  the  human  conscience  and  I 
preserve  the  hope  that  the  young  men  and  girls  of  respectable  families  will 
be  restored  to  their  homes  in  answer  to  the  demand  for  their  return  and  that 
sentiments  of  justice  and  honour  will  prevail  over  all  lower  considerations. 

(Signed)         ALEXIS-ARMAND. 

Bishop. 


Annexe  12. 

Letter  addressed  by  M.  D.,{^)  retired  Surveyor  of  Taxes,  to  M.  Jules 
Cambon,  French  Ambassador,  formerly  Prefect  of  Lille. 

Paris,  July  2nd,  1916. 
My  dear  Secretary-General, 

You  will  find  enclosed  a  letter  from  Lille,  addressed  to  tlie 
family  of  my  son-in-law,  M.  G.,  copied  in  his  office.  The  letter  is 
from  Mme  D.,  the  wife  of  a  merchant  of  that  city.  It  gives  evidence 
of  the  ill-treatment  by  the  Germans  of  the  population  of  Lille  and  the 
sufferings  which  our  unfortunate  fellow-countrymen  have  had  to  endure. 
I  hope  sincerely  that  the  letter  may  be  of  some  use  to  you. 

I  am,  Yours,     . 

(Signed)         G.  D. 

Q)  It  ia  imt)0S9ible  to  give  the  names  of  the  writers  or  of  their  families,  as   they  are 
still  in  the  occupied  territory. 


17 


Annexe  13. 

Letter  attached  to  the  above. 

"  My  dear  E.,  Lille,  April  30tli,  1916. 

What  I  have  to  tell  you  is  so  sad  and  so  long  that  I  have  not  the 
heart  to  write  it  twice.  Will  you  read  this  letter  and  then  pass  it  on 
to  M.,  for  her  to  send  round  and  finally  keep  in  her  own  hands. 

"  Mt  dear  M., 

The  last  three  weeks,  and  especially  the  last  week,  we  have 
spent  in  the  most  terrible  anguish  and  moral  torture  possible  for  a 
mother's  heart.  On  the  pretext  of  difiiculties  caused  by  England 
in  the  matter  of  provisions  and  of  the  refusal  of  the  men  out  of 
work  to  volunteer  for  work  in  the  fields,  the  Germans  have 
embarked  on  a  forcible  evacuation  of  the  population,  with 
an  inconceivable  refinement  of  cruelty.  They  did  not  proceed 
as  on  the  first  occasion  by  whole  families;  no,  community  of  suffering 
they  thought  would  be  too  easy  for  us,  and  so  they  took  one,  two, 
three,  four  or  five  members  from  each  family — men,  women,  youths, 
children  of  15,  girls,  any  one — whoever  was  chosen,  quite  arbi- 
trarily, by  an  officer.  And  to  prolong  the  agony  for  us  all,  they 
operated  by  districts,  without  even  giving  notice  in  which  district 
they  would  operate  each  night;  for  it  was  at  dawn,  at  3  in  the  morr- 
ing,  that  these  heroes,  with  a  band,  and  machine  guns  and  fixed 
bayonets,  would  go  and  hunt  out  women  and  children  to  take  them 
away.  God  knows  where  or  why.  They  say :  Far  from  the  front, 
for  work  which  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  war ;  but  we  have  already 
heard  that  the  poor  things  have  been  received  in  certain  places  with 
volleys  of  stones  because  they  were  coming,  it  was  alleged,  volun- 
tarily, to  work  where  the  population  had  refused  to  do  so.  It  is  a 
diabolical  lie,  as  is  the  whole  scheme;  for  this  was  the  object  of  the 
registration  card,  giving  age,  sex,  capacity  and  aptitude  for  all  sorts 
of  work,  and  the  identity  card  which  we  had  to  carry  with  us  always, 
and  the  prohibition  to  sleep  away  from  home.  Well,  for  about  the 
last  three  weeks  raids  were  carried  out  in  the  two  large  neighbouring 
towns;  any  one  was  taken,  in  the  streets,  in  the  trams,  and  those  who 
were  taken  never  reappeared.  We  were  terrified,  and  when  several 
girls  and  children  had  been  carried  off  like  this,  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  authorities  protested  in  admirable  terms  :  "I  cannot 
believe,"  said  one,  "  in  this  violation  of  all  justice  and  all  rights; 
this  abominable  act,  opposed  alike  to  morality  and  justice,  would 
bring  on  its  authors  universal  condemnation."  "  I  learn,"  said 
another,  "that  our  families  are  threatened  with  extreme  measures; 
I  have  faith  in  the  conscience  of  humanity;  a  punishment  which 
could  tear  girls  and  children  from  their  mothers,  to  send  them  to 
unknown  destinations  in  horrible  promiscuity,  would  be  as  cruel  as 
it  is  undeserved ;  it  would  be  contrary  to  the  very  elements  of 
morality.  You  are  a  father,  your  Excellency,  and  you  will  under- 
stand what  such  extreme  measures  would  mean  for  our  closely  united 
families." 

In  answer  to  this,  the  writers  of  the  protests  were  assembled  on 
Thursday  before  Easter  at  4  o'clock,  and  when  they  were  assembled 
placards  of  terror  were  posted  up,  and  they  were  given  to  understand 
that  that  was  their  answer,  and  that  when  they  went  into  the  streets 
they  could  read  it  like  the  rest  of  the  population.  Further,  they 
were  told,  as  the  abominable  action  had  been  decided   upon,    they 

9098  B  2 


18 

had  nothing-  to  do  but  to  hold  their  tongues.  Well,  the  notice 
warned  everybody — except  infirm  old  men,  children  under  14  and 
their  mothers — to  hold  themselves  ready  for  deportation,  each  being 
entitled  to  30  kilogrammes  of  luggage.  With  this  object  in  view, 
domiciliary  visits  were  going  to  be  made,  all  the  inhabitants  of  a 
house  being  bound  to  present  themselves  at  the  door  of  the  open 
house  with  their  identity  card  in  their  hands,  to  show  themselves  to 
the  officer,  who  notified  which  of  them  was  to  be  deported ;  no  protest 
was  to  be  made.  As  we  came  out  of  church  we  read  this  threat, 
which  was  to  be  carried  out  at  once  for  some,  and  which,  in  other 
cases,  hung  over  our  heads  like  a  sword  of  Damocles;  and  this  during 
ten  long  days  and  ten  interminable  nights,  since  the  Germans  were 
working  by  districts.  And  it  was  left  to  the  arbitrary  pleasure  of 
an  officer  to  choose  the  victims.  And  not  knowing  from  night  to 
night  if  it  was  our  turn,  we  used  to  wake  up  as  if  in  a  dreadful 
nightmare,  with  sweat  on  our  brow  and  anguish  in  our  heart. 
No  words  can  tell  you  what  those  days  were.  We  are  all  still 
prostrate  from  it. 

On  the  night  of  Friday  to  Saturday  before  Easter,  at  3  o'clock,  the 
troops,  on  their  rounds  to  invest  the  first  district  on  the  list.  Fives, 
came  to  our  house.  It  was  terrible.  The  officer  went  round, 
pointing  out  the  men  and  women  whom  he  chose,  and  giving 
them,  to  make  their  preparations,  a  period  varying  from  an  hour 
to  ten  minutes.  Antoine  D.  and  his  sister  of  22  were  carried  off. 
After  considerable  difficulties  the  sister  under  14  was  left,  and  her 
grandmother,  ill  from  grief  and  terror,  had  to  receive  the  rites  of 
the  Church  at  once;  at  last  the  girl  was  allowed  to  return.  But 
here  an  old  man,  there  two  invalids  could  not  get  leave  to  keep  the 
daughter  who  was  their  only  support.  And  everywhere  the  German 
jeered,  adding  insult  to  injury.  For  example,  at  the  house  of  the 
doctor,  B.'s  uncle,  they  left  Madame  the  choice  between  her  two 
servants;  she  chose  the  elder  one.  "  Good,"  they  answered,  "that 
is  the  one  we  will  take."  The  youngest  Mile  L.,  who  has  just  had 
typhoid  and  bronchitis,  saw  the  sergeant  who  was  carrying  off  her 
servant  approaching  her:  "What  a  sad  duty  we  have  to  do." 
"  More  than  sad,  monsieur,  one  might  call  it  barbarous."  "That 
is  a  hard  word.  Are  you  not  afraid  that  I  shall  give  you  away?  " 
And,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  traitor  did  denounce  her.  She  was 
given  seven  minutes  and  carried  off  bare-headed,  in  slippers,  to  the 
colonel  who  was  in  charge  of  this  noble  military  operation  and  who 
condemned  her  to  go  in  spite  of  the  doctor's  opinion.  And  it  was 
only  due  to  his  inexhaustible  energy  and  the  pity  of  a  German  less 
brutal  than  the  others  that  she  obtained  her  release  at  5  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  after  a  day  of  perfect  agony. 

The  miserable  people,  at  whose  doors  a  sentinel  for  each  victim 
was  on  guard,  were  taken  off  first  to  some  place — a  church  or  a  school 
— then  in  a  troop,  all  classes  together,  of  all  moral  grades,  modest 
girls  and  prostitutes,  surrounded  by  soldiers,  with  a  band  at  the 
head,  to  the  station,  whence  they  set  out  in  the  evening  without 
knowing  their  destination  or  to  what  work  they  were  to  be  set. 

And  through  it  all  our  people  preserved  their  calm  and  their 
dignity  admirably,  although  that  day  the  Germans  gave  them  every 
provocation,  by  parading  the  motors  full  of  these  wretched  victims 
round  the  streets.  They  all  started  off  with  cries  of  "  Vive  la 
France!  "  "  Vive  la  liberte !  "  and  singing  the  Marseillaise.  They 
comforted  those  who  were  left  behind,  their  poor  weeping  mothers  and 
the  children  ;  pale  with  grief  and  choked  by  tears,  they  forbade  them 


19 

to  weep ;  they  did  not  weep  themselves  and  remained  proud,  appearing 
impassive  in  face  of  their  persecutors.  I  will  go  on  with  my  story. 
'A  respite  was  announced  for  Easter  Day  and  the  Monday,  torty-eight 
hours;  it  was  a  great  deal.  A  fresh  vehement  indignant  protest  was 
despatched  to  the  High  Command ;  a  slight  hope  sprang  up  again. 
In  the  evening  the  sermon  ended  with  these  admirable  words:  "  I 
should  have  liked  to  leave  you  with  a  word  of  joy  and  hope,  but 
those  who  for  the  last  two  years  have  oppressed  us  and  have  over- 
whelmed us  with  a  thousand  persecutions,  have  turned  these  days  of 
rejoicings  into  days  of  mourning.  My  risen  Christ,  wilt  Thou  not 
breathe  in  me  a  word  of  confidence  on  this  day  of  the  Resurrection? 
Listen,  my  people,  let  the  wicked  man  accomplish  his  iniquity,  keep 
your  soul  tranquil  and  your  heart  courageous.  And  you,  my 
children,  be  brave.  Providence  is  near  and  will  know  what  you 
have  suffered,  the  Eternal  God  will  take  upon  Him  your  defence. 
He  will  brand  with  an  indelible  mark  the  forehead  of  your  oppressor, 
and  those  who  have  seen  you  set  out  on  a  bitter  path  with  mourning 
and  weeping  will  see  you  return  with  triumph  and  great  glory,  for 
suffering  passes  away,  but  to  suffer  for  the  E-ight  and  for  Justice 
endures  for  ever  (Prophecy  of  the  Prophet  Baruch)."  These  words, 
delivered  from  the  pulpit,  with  authority,  seemed  a  very  Anathema. 
All  shuddered,  and  tears  stood  in  the  eyes  of  all. 

We  were  counting  on  a  respite  of  at  least  one  more  night,  but 
in  the  evening,  at  half  past  nine,  the  Town  Hall  caught  fire.  It  is 
better  to  preserve  the  general  silence  about  this  occurrence;  what 
is  the  good  of  talking?  The  fire  broke  out  just  above  the  office  in 
which  were  the  only  requisition  vouchers,  pledging  the  credit  of 
State  to  State.  Thanks  to  our  Town  Councillors,  who  were  more 
devoted  than  can  be  expressed,  these  vouchers  were  saved,  as  well 
as  the  town  records  and  accounts,  till  the  next  time.  But  the  fire 
soon  took  hold  in  every  part;  there  was  no  water  and  the  building 
was  gutted.  And  by  the  light  of  the  fire,  at  three  in  the  morning, 
the  domiciliary  visits  began  again  in  the  Vauban  quarter.  By  good 
luck  the  D.'s,  counting  on  the  respite,  imagined  it  was  a  simple 
verification,  and,  as  no  one  was  chosen  in  their  house,  were  not 
even  alarmed.  It  was  not  until  an  hour  later  that  they  realised  that 
people  were  being  carried  off.  Mile  B.,  Mile  de  B.,  Mile  L.,  who 
could  only  be  released  at  5  o'clock  in  the  evening;  young  men,  D., 
D.,  Van  P.,  Jean  ¥.,  J.,  M.,  mostly  17  years  old,  and  numbers  of 
others,  1,500  to  2,000  a  day.  The  servants  were  carried  off  every- 
where almost,  or  offered  themselves  voluntarily  to  take  the  place  of 
the  daughters  of  the  house  or  to  accompany  them.  On  the  other 
hand,  Mme  J),  took  the  place  of  her  maid  who  was  ill;  when  she 
was  sent  back  she  wanted  to  stay  :  "You  ought  not  to  send  me  back 
because  I  have  some  money,  can't  you  see  that  it  is  disgraceful,"  and 
they  threatened  to  send  her  back  forcibly.  The  concentration  camps 
looked  like  slave  markets,  and  the  Germans  were  told  so. 

As  our  turn  came  late,  we  had  time  to  warn  as  far  as  possible  the 
girls  whom  we  call  among  ourselves  "  les  Soeurs  "  or  "  les  Nous 
Deux."  Thej'  packed  their  luggage  courageously,  each  of  them 
wanting,  in  case  of  tlie  worst,  to  take  the  other's  place,  and  I  liad 
to  decide  who  had  better  be  let  go.  On  the  Monday  we  got  some 
comfort  in  the  small  village  where  we  used  to  go  with  you  last  year; 
everybody  overwhelmed  us  with  their  sympathy,  anxious  for  us  and 
with  us,  for  no  one,  not  even  our  Town  Councillors,  was  free  from 
fear.  All  did  their  best  for  us  and  Mine  ]).  ni.'tde  me  promise  to 
let  her  know;  if  the  above  mentioned  girls  were  to  go,  she,  as  she 


20 

was  free,  would  go  witli  tliem  and  be  a  mother  to  them.  And 
for  the  whole  week  this  agony  lasted,  this  anguish  weighed  us  down. 
A.,  A.'s  servant,  was  carried  off  but  let  go  again,  thanks  partly 
to  her  father;  so  too  C.  and  her  ypung  sister,  whose  gratitude  was 
touching.  L.  A.'s  daughter  carried  off.  At  last  our  turn  came. 
As  you  can  imagine,  I  could  not  sleep.  I  heard  the  troops 
coming  round  and  woke  up  the  whole  household  when  the  visits 
began  in  the  street  at  four  o'clock.  It  lasted  till  half-past  one,  our 
turn  at  half-past  ten.  Do  you  realise  our  agony  for  those  six 
mortal  hours?  No  doubt  we  had  a  chance  of  succeeding  in  getting 
them  exempted,  but  it  was  almost  equally  certain  for  every  one 
that  some  would  be  taken,  and  was  it  not  too  much  to  spend  the  day 
without  any  real  certainty  of  getting  them  off — a  day  for  them 
spent  among  the  lowest  girls  of  our  district.  Well,  God  again 
showed  us  His  fatherly  protection,  and  after  counting  every  one  the 
Germans  went  on  without  choosing  anyone;  but  we  are  still 
prostrate.  It  was  wretched  to  watch  the  girls  of  our  street  going 
past  in  silence,  one  by  one,  escorted  by  a  sentry;  three  from  the 
little  workshop  which  I  had  started.  I  had  warned  them  with 
deep  emotion  of  the  dangers  they  would  have  to  guard  against.  It 
was  the  Good  Friday  before  the  first  deportation  and  they  could  not 
restrain  their  tears  and  like  everyone  else  they  were  distressed  at 
the  thought  that  they  were  going  to  be  made  to  work  for  the  enemy 
and  were  asking  what  they  would  have  to  do. 

Meanwhile  all  fear  has  not  passed  for  us.  Is  not  father  himself, 
alas  !  threatened  ?  They  have  taken  the  principal  accountant  of  our 
factory,  the  husband  of  M.,  who  is  the  same  age  as  he  is.  What 
if  he  were  to  be  taken,  too?  Pray,  dear,  pray  all  of  you  with 
us,  I  implore  you,  and  while  thanking  God  for  having  spared 
us  this  time,  us.  Aunt  A.  and  all  her  children  as  well  as  our 
relations  and  friends  (relations  of  B.),  pray  God  to  continue  His 
protection,  we  have  such  great  need  of  it !  Will  deliverance  never 
come?  Think,  my  friends,  of  the  grief  of  all  these  mothers  who 
were  watching  over  their  daughters  with  such  care  and  from  whom 
their  daughters  have  been  roughly  torn.  And  soldiers  and  officers 
have  consented  to  do  such  work. 

They  were  told — another  lie — that  we  had  revolted  and  that  it 
was  a  punishment.  And  at  Roubaix  the  officers  of  the  Guards 
refused,  in  the  face  of  a  calm  and  dignified  population,  to  carry  off 
women  and  children  by  night.  Here  it  is  the  64th  regiment,  back 
from  Yerdun,  that  has  consented  to  do  the  work.  Some  of  them, 
they  said,  would  have  preferred  to  stay  in  the  trenches.  .  .  . 
At  any  rate  they  will  get  the  Iron  Cross,  and  the  name  of  this 
glorious  feat  of  arms  will  decorate  their  colours. 

Above  all,  above  all  our  soldiers  at  the  front  must  not  avenge  us 
by  similar  acts;  that  would  sully  the  fair  name  of  France.  Let 
them  leave  it  to  God  to  avenge  such  misdeeds,  such  crimes.  The 
Germans,  as  a  woman  told  them  from  whom  they  took  her  husband, 
her  son,  and  her  daughter,  will  be  accursed  in  their  race,  in  their 
wives  and  in  their  children. 

This  is  the  end  of  this  long  and  miserable  story,  but  I  have  ni>t 
been  able  to  depict  the  terrible  suffering  of  those  whose  homes  have 
thus  been  decimated.  Many  will  die  of  it.  As  Monseigneur  said, 
it  is  the  passion  of  our  families  added  to  the  Passion  of  Christ.  One 
woman  sweated  blood  on  seeing  her  young  son  taken ;  he  was  brought 
back  to  her,  but  she  did  not  recognise  him.  It  is  terrible  and  our 
position  seems  to  me  very  critical.     Pray   for  us.     Soon,    we   are 


21 

told,  it  will  be  all  tlie  men.  Many  who  are  left,  were  told:  "  In  a 
fortnight."  Then,  the  story  runs,  it  will  be  deportation  to  France, 
if  one  pays,  and  that  we  shall  have  to  refuse  to  do.  .  .  .  The 
Germans  are  trying  already  to  get  money  and  I  know  one  who  is 
near  to  you  and  who  refused  with  his  usual  calm  dignity;  like  all 
good  Frenchmen  he  has  given  his  all  to  France  and  has  nothing 
left,  but  then  no  more  business,  no  more  outside  trade,  and  I  am 
afraid  they  will  try  to  force  us  that  way,  no  more  food.  Already, 
since  you  went  away,  or  rather  during  the  last  three  months,  they 
have  only  distributed  meat  twice. 

But  let  us  finish  on  a  more  cheerful  note.  Yesterday  we  had  a 
good  letter  from  H.  at  last;  he  cannot,  unfortunately,  tell  us  of  the 
family  which  is  on  the  other  side,  but  only  of  those  who  are  near 
him,  that  is  how  he  told  us  that  our  dear  G.  and  H.  have  gone  to  work 
and  are  well.  If  at  the  price  of  all  our  sufferings  we  could  succeed 
in  seeing  all  those  again  whom  we  love,  with  what  joy  would  we 
bear  our  misery !  How  cheerfully  do  we  already  offer  our  sacrifice 
to  that  end  !  We  are  not  at  all  overwhelmed,  everyone  remains  firm 
and  full  of  courage,  and  the  Germans,  in  spite  of  the  pleasure  some 
of  them  say  they  have  taken  in  the  sight,  have  hardly  ever  had  the 
chance  of  seeing  our  women  and  girls  weep. 

Do  you  remember?  We  used  to  say  laughingly:  "When  you 
have  gone,  we  shall  tell  you  that  what  we  suffered  when  you  were 
there  was  nothing."  Alas!  we  did  not  think  we  were  speaking 
so  truly.  The  very  day  after  your  departure  came  the  proclama- 
tion about  typhus  and  the  Draconian  regulations  for  those  who  had 
it,  the  threat,  carried  out  in  many  cases,  of  patients  being  taken  to 
hospital  where  their  families  could  not  nurse  them  or  even  see  them. 
Then  a  thousand  annoyances:  cards,  registration,  &c.,  and  the 
privation  of  everything,  meat,  butter,  eggs,  vegetables,  potatoes, 
nothing  more  except  by  smuggling,  which  was  getting  more  rare 
and  more  dangerous  every  day.  And  less  news  than  ever — only  one 
letter  since  your  departure  and  M.  P.'s.  And  yet  others  get  news. 
Still,  perhaps,  all  these  small  trials  spare  us  greater  ones.  Let 
us  say  our  "Fiat"  together,  pray  God  together  to  continue  Hia 
protection  to  us.  Here  we  think  of  you,  love  you,  pray  with  you, 
suffer  for  you. 

Love  to  the  dear  children  whom  we  miss  so  much  and  to  all  our 
dear  ones,  to  G.,  and  to  you,  all  love  from 

Marie. 

"  P.S. — This  letter  is  no  exaggeration.  You  can  communicate  it,  so  as 
to  make  the  German  people  known  to  those  who  would  not  have  enough 
hatred  and  contempt  to  prevent  them  having  dealings  with  Germans 
after  the  war.  We  are  told  that  on  the  other  side  people  think  that  our 
life,  apart  from  some  petty  persecutions,  is  bearable.  Well,  then,  no. 
It  has  not  been  for  the  last  five  months.  There  was  the  typhus  gaining 
ground  steadily,  then  the  explosion  and  the  terrible  shock  of  it  even  for 
those  not  directly  affected.  And  the  privations  of  all  sorts.  The  petty 
persecutions  which  go  so  far  as  to  deprive  the  town  of  all  substantial  food. 
No  meat,  except  that  of  the  Committee,  may  be  brought  into  tlie  town, 
and  we  have  had  twice  150  grammes  per  person  in  four  months;  again, 
one  pays  5  francs  a  pound  for  it  even  to  the  Committee.  In  order  to 
give  my  family  a  slice  of  meat  as  thin  as  a  leaf  and  as  large  as  the  hollow 
of  your  hand,  each  slice  costing  me  1  franc  50,  I  am  almost  always 
obliged  to  go  and  fetch  it  in  Hellemmes  or  Marcq,  risking  nothing  less 
than  to  be  led  off  into  the  Citadel,  since  it  is  forbidden  to  bring  into 


22 

Lille  from  tlie  outside  any  meat  or  other  provisions  in  however  small 
quantities.  All  the  grocers,  greengrocers,  butchers,  are  shut.  Many 
live  on  nothing  but  rice.  One  day  a  cartload  of  fish  and  eggs  arrived 
for  us ;  contrary  to  all  right,  they  were  commandeered  and  sent  to 
Germany.  Another  day  there  arrived,  through  the  Committee,  for  the 
town  55,000  francs  worth  of  meat.  A  series  of  vexatious  proceedings 
stopped  it  and  left  it  to  rot  where  it  lay.  The  potatoes  here  and  in  the 
neighbourhood  are  being  spoilt ;  the  Germans  will  not  let  them  be  brought 

in  and  our  strength  is  diminishing I  am  not  telling  you  this 

to  make  you  pity  us,  but  to  show  you  that  even  physically  we  are  not 
strong  enough  for  the  moral  tortures  which  we  endure,  deprived  of  all 
comforts,  of  all  news  of  you.  So  the  mortality  is  increasing  alarm- 
ingly, 45  per  cent,  in  a  population  reduced  by  half.  Numerous  cases  of 
madness  in  certain  districts  are  not  to  be  wondered  at.  We  are  at  the 
end  of  our  strength;  one  has  to  be  constantly  on  the  watch  to  defend  and 
help  the  poor  people.  We  only  keep  going  by  a  constant  strain  of  spirit 
and  strength.  Tip  till  now  I  have  written  each  week,  but  I  am  losing 
heart  for  it,  and  I  think  I  am  going  to  resign  myself  to  waiting  for  an 
answer.     Communicate  this  scrap,  too,  to  everybody. 

(Signed)         D." 


The  following  16  letters  have  been  communicated  by  the  Ministry  of  War,  and  the 
originals  are  preserved  in  that  department. 

Annexe  14. 
Letter  froTu  X,  at  Lille,  1st  May,  1916,  to  Mme  L.  G.,  at  Paris-Passy. 

"  This  week  has  been  terrible  for  our  unhappy  town :  1,200  to  1,500 
people  have  been  carried  olf  every  night,  escorted  by  soldiers  with 
fixed  bayonets  and  bands  playing,  machine  guns  at  the  corners  of  the 
streets,  principally  girls  and  young  women  of  all  sorts,  also  men  from 
15  to  50,  sent  off  promiscuously  in  cattle  trucks  with  wooden  benches, 
for  unknown  destinations  and  employments,  nominally  to  work  on  the 
land.  You  can  imagine  the  despair  and  agony  of  their  relations.  We 
learn  this  afternoon  that  the  horrible  business  is  over  and  our  quarter 
has  been  spared. 

I  had  come  to  sleep  at  home  for  the  first  time  in  two  years,  in  the 
attempt  to  save  my  maid.  I  am  at  last  going  to  sleep  without  the 
fear  of  being  wakened  in  the  middle  of  the  night  to  go  and  open  the  door 
to  an  invasion  of  soldiers.  There  will  be  nobody  left  except  mothers  with 
children  under  14,  or  old  men.  In  the  middle  of  all  this  the  Town  Hall 
was  burnt  out  one  night,  as  if  by  magic.  The  deported  people,  however, 
showed  truly  French  courage;  they  kept  back  their  tears,  and  the  trains 
left  the  station  to  the  sound  of  the  Marseillaise.  The  worse  things  are, 
the  nearer  to  deliverance  it  seems  to  us  we  are  coming." 


Annexe  15. 

Letter  from  M.  X.,  at  Lille,  to  M.  V .,  at  Paris. 

"  We  have  seen  our  streets  invaded  in  the  middle  of  the  night  by 
hordes  of  soldiers,  with  fixed  bayonets  and  machine  guns  (how  shameful !), 
tearing  girls  of  all  ages  and  lads  of  fourteen  from  their  mothers'  arms, 
without  pity   for   these   mothers   who,    on   their  knees,   implored    their 


23 

conquerors  for  mercy,  and  all  these  unfortunate  creatures  massed  indis- 
criminately with  the  dregs  of  the  population,  packed  into  commandeered 
trams,  sent  off  like  troops  of  slaves  to  an  unknown  destination.  What 
impotent  hatred  for  the  moment,  but  later  what  responsibility  for  the 
higher  authorities,  from  the  private  to  the  general !  Tell  all  this  to  our 
son." 


Annexe  16. 

Letter,  dated  26i7i  April,  1916,  frovi  X.,  at  Lille,  addressed  to  Mme  E., 

at  Versailles. 

"  People  like  us  carry  on  fairly  well  from  day  to  day  in  the  matter  of 
provisions,  and  those  who  are  suffering  would  hardly  admit  it,  now  that 
it  is  being  used  as  a  pretext  for  a  measure  which  turns  the  three  towns 
upside-down,  namely,  the  deportation  of  the  citizens.  I  say  pretext, 
for  there  are  sure  to  be  other  reasons — to  aggravate  us,  to  carry  out  noisy 
reprisals,  for  they  know  quite  well  that  we  shall  get  them,  and  to  lay 
their  hands  on  the  male  population  from  17  to  55,  which  would  be 
especially  explicable  if  they  want  to  prepare  for  their  retreat.  But  why 
are  they  taking  women  in  the  proportion  of  20  to  30  per  cent.,  as  far 
as  one  can  see  from  the  last  few  days?  Is  it  for  agricultural  work,  as  they 
say?  Is  it  to  form  concentration  camps?  Is  it  to  repopulate  the 
Ardennes  region  which  is  said  to  be  depopulated,  or  to  have  all  the 
remaining  civilians  from  here  to  oppose  our  advance  down  there? 
I  also  think  that  they  may  have  embarked  on  this  vile  business  through 
sheer  stupidity :  the  order  comes  from  above,  the  subordinates,  includ- 
ing the  Governor,  carry  it  out;  the  protests  of  the  Mayors  and  the 
Bishop  have  been  rejected.  The  decision,  so  they  say,  is  irrevocable; 
the  slaves  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  keep  silent.  We  are  in  their  hands. 
The  first  operation  took  place  on  the  night  from  Good  Friday  to  the 
Saturday;  pause  for  Easter;  the  second  took  place  last  night,  and  it  will 
go  on.  You  know  that  each  house  has  to  have  a  list  posted  of  the  inhabi- 
tants. We  must  be  at  home,  there  is  no  means  of  getting  out  of  it  since 
the  identity  cards.  I  did  not  see  the  proceedings  of  tonight,  but  the 
ceremonies  must  have  been  the  same  as  before.  The  streets  guarded 
at  both  ends  by  troops,  sent  on  purpose  a  week  ago  from  Cambrai  or 
elsewhere,  machine  guns  in  place,  10  to  15  men  halt  before  the  house 
with  fixed  bayonets,  two  enter  with  a  non-commissioned  officer  and  the 
officer,  who  decides  and  chooses  those  who  are  to  go.  These  have  from 
20  minutes  to  an  hour  to  come  down  into  the  street  with  a  nominal 
30  kgm.  of  luggage,  and  are  marched  to  some  place — the  church  of 
Fives,  the  school  of  St.  Joseph — and  from  there  to  the  station  for  the 
east.  In  the  morning  the  women  cried  out  as  they  passed  :  "  We  are 
going  to  Belgium.  It  is  not  to  cultivate  the  soil  of  France."  If  they 
want  to  carry  us  off  into  Germany  before  the  advance  of  our  troops  let 
them  say  so.  But  the  worist  is  this  uncertainty.  I  do  not  want  to 
overload  the  picture,  it  is  dark  enough.  It  is  enough  for  you  to  know  that 
since  the  beginning  of  this  raid  they  have  carried  off  young  girls;  that 
that  still  seems  to  be  part  of  their  system;  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
these  deportations  of  young  girls  were  frequent  the  first  night,  although 
they  have,  it  is  said,  sent  a  certain  number  of  them  back  from  the  station, 
and  this  has  been  done  again  to-night.  Think  of  the  terror  of  the 
fathers  and  mothers,  of  the  distress  of  daughters  of  good  families,  who 
do  not  know  what  is  happening,  of  the  horrible  situation  of  those  who 
see  their  dear  ones  go,  and  if,  as  I  think,  the  people  of  the  upper  classes 


24 

escape  these  risks  almost  entirely,  how  wretched  is  the  lot  of  the  respect- 
able people  of  the  lower  classes,  who  have  nothing  but  their  respectability, 
to  have  it  so  exposed.  The  mothers  with  children  under  14  are  left. 
What  more  can  they  do  with  us,  except  sell  us  in  the  public  squares  of 
German  towns?  " 


Annexe  17. 

Letter  addressed  to  Mme  D.,  in  Paris,  hy  X.,  in  Lille,  Qrd  May,  1916. 

"  Our  Eastertide  was  very  miserable.  They  have  conceived  the  idea 
of  transplanting  part  of  the  population  into  abandoned  or  half-abandoned 
villages  in  the  invaded  parts  of  France  to  work  in  the  fields.  It  was 
done  in  the  best  military  way.  They  took  men,  women,  lads,  girls  of 
all  classes.  Exemption  for  women  with  small  children.  Each  morning 
they  operated  in  a  district  at  3  a.m.  The  victims  were  packed  together 
half  an  hour  afterwards  at  the  St.  Sauveur  station.  They  did  not  come 
to  us.  There  were,  as  you  can  imagine,  some  distressing  scenes. 
Mme  C.  H.,  who  had  gone  back  to  sleep  at  F.  in  order  to  obey  the  procla- 
mation, was  taken,  but  was  released  twelve  hours  later,  having  had  the 
good  luck  to  meet  at  the  station  an  important  personage  from  the  factory, 
who  was  one  of  the  American  Committee.     I  was  not  molested." 


Annexe  18. 

Letter  addressed  to  Mme  R.  D.,  in  Paris,  by  X.,  in  Lille,  2nd  May,  1916. 

"  But  this  material  part  (the  high  price  of  food)  is  nothing  to  the 
agony  that  we  had  to  endure  the  whole  of  Easter  week,  owing  to  the 
military  deportation  of  women,  by  night,  to  go  we  know  not  where. 
You  can  understand  the  revolt  and  indignation  of  decent  people — 
to  bring  up  children  in  order  to  have  them  carried  off  in  this 
inhuman  fashion.  The  town  completely  plunged  in  grief,  that  was  our 
Easter  week;  this  is  far  more  terrible  than  shortage  of  food.  No  one 
slept  for  a  week,  always  wondering,  'Will  it  be  to-night?'  At  3  in 
the  morning  one  heard  the  patrols,  a  regular  deportation  of  slaves. 
These  odious  measures  will,  we  hope,  attract  attention  to  us,  and  we 
shall  be  avenged  for  these  barbarous  proceedings." 


Annexe  19. 

Letter  from  X.,  at  Lille,   dated  the  7th  May,   1916,   and  addressed  to 

Madame  B.,  in  Paris. 

"  Horrible  affair  at  Lille,  tell  it  everywhere;  the  deportation  of  6,000 
women  and  6,000  men;  for  eight  nights  at  two  in  the  morning,  districts 
invested  by  the  64th  Eegiment  (spread  it  in  France  that  it  came  from 
Verdun),  forcibly  dragged  off  girls  of  18  and  women  up  to  45;  2,000  a 
night.  Herded  in  a  factory;  sorting  out  during  the  day  and  carried  off 
in  the  evening;  scattered  from  Seclin  to  Sedan  in  abandoned  villages, 
farms,  &c. ;  cook  and  wash  for  the  soldiers,  replacing  orderlies  sent  to 
the  front;  working  on  the  land,  especially  servants  and  working  girls, 
few  girls  of  good  family.  Rue  Royale,  hardly  any  servants  left; 
crowded  in  with  men  of  all  ages  without  distinction ;  horrible  immorality ; 
some  German  officers  refused  to  obey,  some  soldiers  were  crying,  the 
rest  brutal.     Ernest  W.  carried  off,  his  brother  C.  was  one  day  in  the 


25 

fortress  for  having  protested,  sons  have  remained;  X.  is  near  Hirson. 
Mile  B.  and  Mile  de  B.  carried  off;  wanted  to  follow  some  poor  girls 
who  were  their  protegees;  came  to  my  house  at  four  in  the  morning,  no 
one  taken;  no  one  came  to  No.  14.  Protests  by  the  Mayors  and  the  sous- 
prefets.  Useless.  Same  operations  at  Tourcoing  (6,000)  and  at  Eoubaix 
(4,000).     The  town  is  in  despair." 


Annexe  20. 

Letter  from  /.,  the  8th  May,  1916,  to  Madame  V.,  at  Berch-Plage. 

"  M.  C.  J., — It  is  only  a  fortnight  since  my  last  letter  and  here  I  am 
again.  My  excuse  is  that  you  and  your  friends,  perhaps,  want  news  of 
the  forcible  deportation  of  part  of  our  population,  and  that  I  can  reassure 
you  about  the  fate  of  those  who  are  dear  to  you.  The  operation  went  on 
the  whole  of  Easter  w^eek.  Except  the  centre  of  the  town,  all  the  districts 
suffered.  They  carried  off  nearly  10,000  inhabitants,  men  of  55  and  lads 
of  16,  women  who  were  keeping  shop  and  young  girls  who  were  torn 
away  from  their  parents,  with  only  this  restriction  that  those  under 
20  years  of  age  were  accompanied  by  some  member  of  their  family; 
it  was  very  sad,  and  the  Germans  will  never  purge  themselves  of  such 
conduct.  Many  of  the  soldiers  were  in  despair  at  the  duty  which  was 
imposed  on  them ;  the  old  men  of  the  Landsturm  may  have  blushed  at  it, 
but  the  young  non-commissioned  officers  carried  it  out  with  real  Prussian 
thoroughness. 

As  you  can  imagine  there  were  moving  scenes  at  the  moment  of 
separation;  the  soldiers  led  off  their  victims  to  the  St.  Sauveur 
Station,  and  their  parents  could  not  accompany  them.  They  stayed  there 
till  the  evening  when  cattle  trucks,  with  planks  for  seats,  carried  them 
away.  They  started  with  cries  of  "  Yive  la  France,"  and  to  the  tune  of 
the  equally  forbidden  Marseillaise,  This  is  the  first  time  since  the  occu- 
pation that  this  song  and  this  cry  have  been  heard.  In  spite  of  their 
misery  those  deported  showed  a  firm  bearing  in  the  face  of  the  enemy. 

A  small  number  of  those  deported  is  in  the  villages  round  Orchies,  the 
rest  are  on  the  Aisne,  in  the  Ardennes,  and  in  Belgium.  Very  few  seem 
capable  of  working  on  the  land.  You  cannot  make  farm  hands  out  of 
clerks  and  young  girls  and  shop  girls,  of  dressmakers  and  factory  hands. 
We  shall  not  know  till  later  the  true  reason  of  these  deportations,  but  the 
pretexts  given  will  not  hold  water. 

The  vehement  protests  of  the  authorities,  perhaps,  helped  to  reduce 
the  expected  number  of  victims,  perhaps  they  will  help  to  get  the  women 
back;  we  hope  so  witliout  counting  on  it  too  much.  Meanwhile,  the 
whole  city  is  in  consternation. 

As  far  as  the  people  who  affect  you,  or  whom  I  know,  here  is  my  news. 
At  yoTir  cousin's  house,  Rue  X.,  the  Germans  did  not  even  appear;  at  your 
aunt's  everything  passed  off  quietly,  they  contented  themselves  with 
asking  your  uncle's  age  and  that  was  all.  At  Madame  C.'s  and  Madame 
B.'s  no  one  was  taken,  they  are  all  on  the  favoured  list.  On  the  other 
hand,  on  the  list  of  the  unlucky  ones  you  must  put  your  employer's  cook 
and  maid,  our  comrades  V.,  C,  R.,  the  engineer  F.  and  his  wife. 

My  baker  has  kept  his  daughter,  but  the  poor  child  had  been  so 
afraid  of  possible  deportation  that  she  has  been  ill  for  the  last  week. 
Numbers  of  people  besides  are  reported  to  be  still  in  bed  in  consequence 
of  their  anxiety  or  of  the  despair  caused  by  separation. 

Roubaix,  Tourcoing  had  the  same  fate  as  us,  but  the  communes  in 
the     neighbourhood     were     si)ared,     such     as     Loos,     Haubourdiu.     La 


26 

Madeleine,  Lambersart,  &c.  E.'s  wife  was  not  molested.  In  short, 
your  family  and  the  families  of  your  school  friends,  with  whom 
you  are  in  touch  over  there,  have  come  off  all  right,  and  that  is 
what  I  wanted  to  write  and  tell  you  at  once.  There  was  no  trouble 
either  at  Madame  S.'s  or  Madame  G.'s. 

Beside  these  deportations  nothing  counts,  and  I  ought  to  end  my  letter 
here;  but  here  are  a  few  words  more  on  our  situation." 


Annexe  21. 

Letter  signed  R.,  not  dated,  and  addressed  to  Madame  B.,  in  Paris. 

"  My  dear  C, 

I  suppose  the  people  in  France  already  know  of  all  the  trials  through 
which  we  are  passing,  each  more  painful  than  the  last.  We  have  come 
out  of  this  last  one  again  scot  free,  and  have  stayed  here,  both  of  us, 
till  a  new  order  comes. 

We  spent  a  terrible  Easter  week  here;  this  is  what  happened.  On 
Wednesday  the  19th  of  this  month,  a  placard  warning  the  population 
that  there  were  going  to  be  deportations  by  order  in  the  invaded  terri- 
tory, that  each  person  was  to  furnish  himself  with  household  utensils 
and  had  the  right  to  30  kilogrammes  of  luggage.  You  can  imagine 
the  panic  in  the  town. 

Two  days  of  waiting  passed  and  at  last,  on  the  night  of  Friday 
21st  to  Saturday  22nd,  the  streets  of  one  district  were  blocked  by 
the  police  at  3  in  the  morning  and  the  alarm  given  in  each  house, 
with  the  order  to  keep  in  the  passage  with  all  luggage.  They  had 
brought  for  this  vile  duty  soldiers,  or  rather  brutes,  from  another 
locality  simply  in  order  that  there  should  not  be  any  friendliness 
or  weakness  towards  families  who  would  have  begged  for  mercy.  Then, 
according  to  the  number  of  people  living  in  the  house,  the  brute  made 
his  choice.  They  carried  off  girls  of  the  family,  servants,  men  of  all  sorts 
and  of  all  ages.  They  attacked  chiefly  the  working  class,  which  unfor- 
tunately always  suffer  the  most ;  lads  and  girls  of  good  family  who  were 
caught  in  the  raid  were  released;  the  same  was  the  case  with  people 
seriously  ill,  but  for  them  application  had  to  be  made  and  often  they 
were  put  into  the  train  before  exemption  was  granted. 

From  the  22nd  to  the  29th,  inclusive,  9,890  were  deported ;  a  reprieve 
was  granted  for  Easter  day. 

All  these  poor  people  wondered  where  and  why  they  were  being 
taken  away ;  there  were,  I  can  assure  you,  sad  pictures,  but  always  the 
cheerful  side  as  well,  for  one  heard  groups  singing,  some  patriotic  songs, 
others  popular  tunes,  and  as  they  were  kept  at  the  station  the  whole  day 
some  groups  played  cards,  while  waiting  for  their  departure.  One  could 
even  say  that  the  greater  number  were  cheerful,  or  rather  put  on  a  good 
face  against  their  misfortune,  to  the  bewilderment  of  the  Boches,  who 
were  amazed  to  see  the  French  character  not  recoiling  before  any 
sacrifice. 

In  spite  of  that,  it  is  painful  to  be  at  their  mercy  like  this,  for  every- 
thing about  them  is  false,  and  one  wonders  what  is  the  object  of  this 
deportation  and  in  what  state  of  health  and  morale  these  people  will 
come  back. 

Then,  as  a  climax  to  our  misfortunes,  on  Easter  night,  a  fire, 
due  to  some  unknown  cause,  entirely  destroyed  the  Town  Hall ;  for- 
tunately the  essential  things  were  saved,  but  what  a  tragic  night!  " 


27 


Annexe  22. 

Letter  of  the  9th  May,  1916,  addressed  to  Mme  Jules  T.,  at  Versailles, 

by  X.,  in  Lille. 

"  It  began  on  Saturday  before  Easter  day,  at  3  in  tbe  morning, 
at  Fives,  for  Lille,  at  La  Marliere,  for  Tourcoing,  and  for  E-oubaix  I 
do  not  know  in  what  district.  A  regiment  arrived  for  this  duty,  the 
marked  streets  were  blocked  with  machine  guns  and  armed  soldiers,  and 
men,  women,  lads,  young  girls  from  14  or  15  years  of  age,  were  carried 
off  indiscriminately,  but  to  their  greater  misfortune  the  mothers  with 
children  below  14  were  exempted. 

During  the  whole  of  Easter  week  40  to  50  thousand  people  were 
carried  off  from  the  three  towns,  district  by  district.  Slavery  re-estab- 
lished for  the  French  under  the  occupation.  These  poor  slaves  were 
crowded  anyhow  into  cattle  trucks,  men  and  women  together,  and  sent 
in  unknown  directions.  We  have  heard  that  some  landed  at  Orchies, 
Templeuve,  Hirson,  Sedan,  Lens,  some  to  work  on  the  land,  on  the 
roads,  at  munitions  and  at  trenches.  Women,  especially  the  servants, 
kept  to  wait  on  the  ofl&cers,  to  replace  the  orderlies. 

All  the  districts  were  visited,  except  the  district  of  La  Grand'  Place, 
Rue  Rationale,  Boulevard  de  la  Liberte;  shop  girls,  clerks,  men  and 
women. 

The  first  days  they  carried  off  girls  of  the  aristocracy,  so  their 
mothers  in  despair  tried  to  accompany  them,  but  they  released  them 
generally;  in  the  schools,  some  boys  carried  off  too,  but  few.  When 
people  had  officers  living  in  their  houses,  these  often  interposed  to  get 
them  leave  to  stay.  It  is  terribly  sad  here,  the  bombardment,  bombs, 
the  explosion,  were  nothing  to  the  agony  of  this  week;  it  ended  with  the 
St.  Maurice  district.  Monseigneur,  the  Mayor,  the  Director  of  Provision- 
ing, all  protested  against  these  deportations  (the  pretext  given  for  them 
was  the  difliculty  of  feeding  the  population  because  of  the  English).  The 
Germans  have  never  troubled  to  feed  us,  and  provisioning  has  never  been 
so  well  assured,  except  for  meat." 


Annexe  23. 

Letter  signed  "  Louise,"  dated  the  9th  May,  addressed  for  M.  E.  c  jo  M. 
le  Chanoine  D.,  St.  Omer,  Pas-de-Calais. 

"  Dear  Papa, 

On  Thursday,  20th  April,  placards  were  put  up  in  the  evening — 

*  The   attitude   of   England   makes   the   provisioning   of   the   population 

*  more  and  more  difficult.     In  order  to  lessen  the  misery,  the  population 

*  will  be  deported.  By  Order.'  The  following  night  the  military  began 
their  brutal  work  in  Fives.  At  3  o'clock  in  the  morning  there  was  a 
knocking  at  the  doors,  an  officer  came  in  and  chose  the  people  who  were 
to  go.  A  soldier  was  on  sentry  duty,  with  fixed  bayonet,  at  the  door. 
A  few  minutes  were  given  for  packing.  Machine  guns  were  placed  at 
intervals;  the  streets  were  full  of  patrols  nnd  blocked  by  soldiers;  fixed 
bayonets  everywhere.  They  collected  the  people  in  the  church  of  the 
district,  and  they  were  all  sent  off'  promiscuously  in  cattle  trucks. 
What  morals,  what  hygiene  !  Mothers  with  young  children  alone  got 
exemption.  As  we  all  three  came  under  the  conditions,  we  packed  our 
luggage  in  great  depression.     Monseigneur  and  the  Mayor  oourageouBly 


28 

had  several  conversations  with  the  General;  as  Monseigneur  was  ener 
getically  standing  up  for  the  population,  he  was  answered  with  these 
courteous  words:  "You,  Bishop,  be  quiet  and  go!"  The  Germans 
operated  by  police  districts;  Rue  I.,  our  old  street,  was  dealt  with  on  the 
night  of  Easter  Sunday  to  Monday.  People  were  sleeping  peacefully, 
for  the  night  before  they  had  been  told  that  a  despatch  from  neutrals 
had  put  an  end  to  this  disgraceful  state  of  affairs.  The  Miles  J.,  who 
had  been  carried  off  with  their  brother  and  their  maid,  have  been 
released.  Madame  L.'s  maid  has  been  taken,  and,  generally  speaking, 
all  servants ;  as  our  street  is  in  a  different  district,  it  was  only  dealt  with 
on  the  night  Wednesday  to  Thursday.  Fortunately,  before  reaching  us 
the  Germans  had  made  enormous  raids  at  Wazemmes,  and  they  were 
less  unpleasant.  Mother  stayed  in  bed,  saying  she  was  ill.  A.  and 
I  received  the  officer,  who  authorised  us  to  stay.  I  think  the  picture  of 
father  in  uniform,  which  we  have  had  in  the  dining  room  since  the 
separation,  saved  me.  I  said  I  was  the  daughter  of  an  officer  of  whom 
we  had  had  no  news  since  the  battle  of  the  Marne.  It  was  pretty  terrify- 
ing, this  military  visit.  We  thank  God  every  day  for  leading  your  steps 
to  Naerd.     You  would  certainly  have  been  carried  off,  both  of  you. 

The  Germans  realise  that  by  this  disgraceful  act  they  have  set  an 
indelible  stain  on  their  flag.  Several  officers  and  soldiers  are  imprisoned 
in  the  fortress  for  having  refused  the  duty.  On  the  other  hand  a  Boche, 
a  doctor  of  philosophy  and  of  political  jurisprudence,  a  clergyman,  told 
a  gentleman  that  they  would  recoil  from  nothing  for  the  safety  of  the 
Empire.     Is  this  Satan's  last  blow,  or  are  we  to  expect  fresh  crimes? 

On  the  night  of  Easter  Sunday  to  Monday,  fire  broke  out  in  the  Town 
Hall.  A  short  circuit,  it  is  said.  The  Germans  were  pleased,  thinking 
they  saw  all  their  requisition  vouchers,  &c.,  disappearing  in  this  huge 
furnace.  A  great  many  things  are  saved,  but  of  the  Town  Hall  there 
only  remains  the  tower  and  the  four  walls.  We  were  uncertain  about 
hiring  a  safe,  and  did  not  do  it.  An  embargo  has  been  put  a  second  time 
on  the  banks." 


Annexe  24. 

Letter  signed  C,  Lille,  dated  \st  May,  1916,  addressed  to  Mme  A.  A., 

at  La  Tronche  (I sere). 

"  Eor  the  moment  I  am  well  enough  in  spite  of  the  annoyance 
caused  daily  by  these  dirty  dogs,  and  in  spite  of  the  present  diffi- 
culties of  provisioning,  which  will  soon  end  in  complete  famine  if 
this  goes  on  .  .  .  About  Easter,  on  the  Saturday  before,  the  Boches 
proceeded  in  all  districts  in  the  town,  except  the  centre,  forcibly  to  deport 
a  certain  number  of  inhabitants — men,  women,  girls,  lads,  without  dis- 
tinction of  social  status.  At  4  o'clock  in  the  morning  they  blocked  the 
streets  and  the  regiment  charged  with  this  work,  the  64th,  hammered  on 
each  door  with  the  butts  of  their  rifles.  Then  an  officer  went  round  and 
pointed  out  the  people  in  the  house  who  were  to  go.  About  8,000  persons 
were  carried  off  like  this  and  no  one  knows  exactly  where  they  were  sent 
or  what  work  they  are  to  do.  To-day  about  40  women  have  come  back. 
You  can  imagine  the  effect  of  this  hooligan  measure.  The  same  thing 
was  done  in  the  neighbouring  towns  and  villages.  With  the  Germans 
we  must  no  longer  be  astonished  at  anything." 


29 


Annexe  25. 

Letter  unsigned,  from  Lille,  to  M.  M.,  at  Rennes,  l^th  May,  1916. 

**  In  the  last  forcible  deportation  none  of  onr  friends  were  compelled  to 
go  except  our  old  housekeeper  and  her  daughter  (the  wife  of  the  police- 
man). They  have  come  back,  as  M.  is  not  17  and  is  a  delicate  girl. 
As  you  must  know,  we  have  to  vsubmit  to  all  sorts  of  humiliations  and 
petty  persecutions,  if  not  worse." 


Annexe  26. 

Letter  unsigned,  from  Lille,  8th  May,  1916,  addressed  to  M.  B.,  at  Vigan. 

"  The  men  in  grey  made  raids  and  carried  off  men,  women  and 
girls  to  send  them  nominally  to  the  Ardennes;  200  pupils  of  Institut 
Turgot  were  carried  off,  little  girls  of  15  .  .  .  The  number  is  put  at 
20,000  for  the  towns  of  Roubaix  and  Tourcoing." 


Annexe  27. 

Letter  froTii  X.,  Lille,  May,  1916,  to  Mme  Ch.  F.,  at  Wiviereux. 

"  At  this  moment  households  almost  everywhere  are  upset;  deportation 
of  men  and  women  above  the  age  of  15,  disgraceful  in  point  of  morale 
and  cruelty.  The  indignation  of  certain  mothers  made  the  business  a 
little  less  bad ;  we  try  to  think  it  is  a  secret  beginning  of  retreat ;  we 
always  keep  before  us  that  gleam  of  hope  of  deliverance.  In  our  families 
we  were  spared;  the  common  people  were  especially  affected." 


Annexe  28. 

Letter  from  P.  and  from  A.,  at  Roubaix  (20th  May,  1916),  to  the  family 
M.,  at  St.  Germain-en-Laye. 

"  At  this  moment  there  is  great  excitement  here.  All  our  towns  are  full 
of  disquieting  rumours  as  a  result  of  some  deportations  of  men  and  lads, 
as  well  as  of  some  women  and  girls.  They  say  that  this  might  become 
general.  A  first  proclamation  had  announced  that  families  out  of  work 
might  go  and  settle  in  the  country  in  the  Department  of  the  Nord,  in  the 
districts  where  they  could  make  a  living  more  easily.  Some  days  later, 
about  the  5th  of  April,  a  second  proclamation  announced: — 'Workmen 
can  find  healthy  and  congenial  work  at  Gommagnies  and  Herbignies,  in 
the  Val  district,  60  kilometers  behind  the  front.  It  is  a  question  of  cut- 
ting medium-sized  trees  in  the  Mormal  Forest.  .  .  .  Wages,  3  fr. 
a  day,  plus  board  and  lodging.'  Apparently  hardly  anyone  offered  him- 
self. A  few  days  later,  in  Roubaix  and  Tourcoing,  young  men,  women 
and  girls  were  arrested  in  the  street  and  in  their  houses  without  any  reason 
being  given.  It  is  said  the  arrests  were  especially  of  people  who  had 
previously  been  convicted  of  smuggling  potatoes,  or  of  failing  to  appear 
at  roll  calls,  &c.  For  we  are  bound  hand  and  foot,  no  question  of  passes 
of  any  sort,  even  to  villages  near  by,  nothing  except  for  Lille,  Roubaix 
and  Tourcoing. 

It  is  said  that  all  these  people  were  sent  to  Sedan,  Meziores  and  Vervins, 
to  form  agricultural  colonies  to  work  on  the  land;  feeling  grew  even 
stronger  when  the  rumour  got  about  on  Saturday  that  a  score  of  German 


30 

employes  were  working  at  the  town  hall  on  the  recent  census  lists  of  the 
population,  with  a  view  to  taking  haphazard  25,000  people  in  Lille, 
15,000  in  Rouhaix,  10,000  in  Tourcoing,  three-fifths  of  whom  are  to  be 
women  and  girls  and  two-fifths  men  from  17  to  50.  People  refuse  to 
believe  it ;  it  is  contrary  to  international  law ;  but  one  cannot  be  wholly 
sceptical,  for  they  are  said  in  several  factories,  Lepers-Duduve,  C.  &  F. 
riipo.  Veuve  Fouan  et  fils,  to  have  prepared  some  of  the  store  rooms  to 
house  people,  with  lavatories  for  men  and  for  women  and  a  surgery  for 
medical  examination,  &c.  The  most  improbable  rumours  are  current; 
that  it  is  a  case  of  reprisals  by  the  German  Government  for  the  English 
blockade,  or  for  a  similar  act  of  deportation  by  the  French  Government  in 
the  conquered  German  Colonies,  or  that  it  is  a  scheme  for  repopulating 
too  sparsely-inhabited  districts,  either  with  a  view  to  the  harvest  or  as  a 
protection  against  bombardment  by  the  Allies.  Whatever  it  is,  all 
families  are  in  an  agony.  Indignant  protests  have  been  sent  by  our 
leading  men,  the  Mayor  of  Lille  and  Monseigneur  Charost.  The  strict 
enforcement  of  this  measure  seems  provisionally  to  be  suspended.  Let 
us  hope  they  will  get  back  to  a  more  sound  appreciation  of  international 
law.  ...  As  regards  the  deportations  of  men,  are  they  meaning  to 
take  those  of  military  age?     No  one  knows." 


The  two  following  letters  were  received  and  communicated  to  the  Foreign  Office 
by  M.  Boudenoot,  Senator: — 

Annexe  29. 

Extract  from  a  letter  from  Rouhaix. 

Uth  April,  1916. 

"  Now  deportations  are  beginning.  Two  thousand  men  and  lads  have 
gone  from  our  town,  and  that  is  not  all.  At  first  they  were  taken  in  the 
streets,  then  in  their  own  homes,  only  among  the  common  people  up  till 
now. 

I  have  seen  troops  of  them  starting  off,  and  I  assure  you  it  is  heart- 
rending. The  women  throw  parcels  to  their  husbands,  brothers,  sons 
as  they  pass.  These  latter  are  generally  resolute,  some  of  them  were 
singing. 

It  was  the  sending  off  of  women  and  girls  whom  they  had  hunted 
out  that  roused  the  strongest  feeling.  You  can  realise  the  state 
of  mind  of  parents  seeing  young  girls  of  16  to  20  going  off  amongst  lada 
of  all  conditions,  no  one  knows  where. 

In  our  circles  mothers  are  trembling  for  their  grown  sons.  The  men 
are  packing  their  belongings  in  case  they  have  to  go. 

We  are  in  an  atmosphere  of  misery,  owing  to  these  new  measures,  but 
in  spite  of  it  we  keep  up  our  courage  and  our  confidence." 


Annexe  30. 
Extract  from  a  letter  from  a  mother  to  her  son,  aged  17. 

April  Uth,   1916. 

"  I  used  to  deplore  your  absence,  but  now  I  thank  heaven  that  you  are 
away.  Our  invaders  are  embarking  now  on  a  terrible  man-hunt.  I 
have  seen  boys  of  your  age  led  off  in  herds  with  grown  men  for  an 
unknown  destination.     It  is  heartrending. 

It  is  said  that  this  is  only  the  beginning,  and  all  the  men  are  making 
their  preparations." 


31 

Annexe  31. 

Letter  from  Mme  D.,   from  Lille  (Nord),   to  Jeer  husband,    M.   D.,   at 

Wimereux. 

May   Utli,   1916. 
(Communicated  to  the  Minister  of  the  Interior)  : 

"  My  dearest  J., 

Our  friends  who  have  been  deported  will  have  given  you  recent 
news  of  us  and  a  number  of  details  of  our  secluded  life,  of  the  advantages 
of  our  situation,  the  benefits  conferred  by  German  administration,  and 
the  kindness  of  the  authorities. 

Since  their  departure  we  have  witnessed  a  humanitarian  measure 
which  consists  in  dividing  up  families,  taking  here  a  daughter,  there 
a  mother,  there  a  father,  or  leaving  an  octogenarian  of  either  sex  without 
support  or  heljj,  in  order  to  permit  the  people  "  voluntarily  "  deported 
to  get  provisions  better,  and  to  lead  a  more  normal  life  by  "  planting  '' 
potatoes,  as  they  call  it.  Nothing  that  has  happened  has  made  me  so 
indignant  as  this  infamous  proceeding,  criminal  in  its  consequences  and 
in  its  possibilities,  carried  out  under  the  cloak  of  humanity.  These 
families  are  in  tears  over  these  forced  separations.  Parents  have  lost 
their  reason  at  seeing  their  daughter  or  their  daughters  going  off  into  the 
unknown,  which  is  so  full  of  dangers  and  snares.  It  has  caused  the- 
death  of  others,  and  as  for  me  I  have  thanked  heaven  for  all  these  months 
of  separation,  which  have  at  least  spared  me  this  last  agony,  alas !  such 
justifiable  agony. 

The  town  is  in  the  depths  of  depression  since  the  deportations,  and  for 
the  last  ten  days  my  mind  has  been  blank,  and  my  heavy  heart  has  been 
feeling  all  the  despair  which  I  have  witnessed.  I  have  had  to  give 
consolation  and  help;  poor  X.  has  been  carried  off,  we  do  not  yet  know 
where  and  under  what  conditions.  All  France,  all  nations  must  be 
told  of  this  fresh  crime,  with  its  cunning  preparation,  its  cloak  of  lies, 
its  hidden  rascality.  Many  of  those  who  carried  out  the  work  were 
disgusted  with  their  task.  All  I  hope  is  that  their  minds  may  be 
enlightened  by  it,  and  that  they  may  understand  what  it  means. 

As  usual  I  was  spared,  though  I  held  myself  in  readiness  to  go  since 
any  one  might  be  chosen." 


Annexe  32. 

To   Monsieur  Raymond   Poincare,    President  of   the   French    Republic^ 

Paris. 
Sir, 

We  have  the  honour  to  express  again  our  most  sincere  gratitude  to 
you  for  your  most  kind  reception  a  few  days  ago  of  the  deputation  which 
went  with  feelings  of  legitimate  emotion  to  inform  you  of  the  deporta- 
tion of  lads  and  girls,  which  the  German  authorities  have  just  carried 
out  in  the  invaded  districts. 

We  have  collected  some  details  on  the  subject  from  the  lips  of  an 
honourable  and  trustworthy  person,  who  succeeded  in  leaving  Tourconig 
Jibout  ten  days  ago;  we  think  it  our  duty  to  bring  these  details  to  youj- 
notice  h\  reproducing  textually  tlio  declarations  which  luive  been  made 
to  us :  — 

"  These  deportations  began  towards  Easter.  The  Germans  announced 
that  the  inhabitanis  of  Roubaix,  Tourcoing,  Lille,  &c.,  were  going  to  be 
transported  into  French  districts  where  their  provisioning  would  be 
easier. 

9098  n 


32 

"  At  night,  at  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  a  whole  district  of 
the  town  was  invested  by  the  troops  of  occupation.  To  each  house  was 
distributed  a  printed  notice,  of  which  we  give  below  an  exact  repro- 
duction, preserving  the  stj'le  and  spelling.     {Ann.  2.) 

"  The  inhabitants  so  warned  were  to  hold  themselves  ready  to  depart 
an  hour  and  a  half  after  the  distribution  of  the  proclamation. 

"  Each  family,  drawn  up  outside  the  house,  was  examined  by  an  officer, 
who  pointed  out  haphazard  the  persons  who  were  to  go.  No  words  can 
express  the  barbarity  of  this  proceeding  nor  describe  the  heartrending 
scenes  which  occurred :  young  men  and  girls  took  a  hasty  farewell  of 
their  parents — a  farewell  hurried  by  the  German  soldiers  who  were 
executing  the  infamous  task, — rejoined  the  group  of  those  who  were 
going  and  found  themselves  in  the  middle  of  the  street,  surrounded  by 
other  soldiers  with  fixed  bayonets. 

"  Tears  of  despair  on  the  part  of  parents  and  children  so  ruthlessly 
separated  did  not  soften  the  hearts  of  the  brutal  Germans.  Sometimes 
however,  a  more  kind-hearted  officer  yielded  to  too  great  a  despair,  and 
did  not  choose  all  the  persons  whom  he  should — by  the  terms  of  his 
instructions — have  separated. 

"  These  girls  and  lads  were  taken  in  trams  to  factories,  where  they  were 
numbered  and  labelled  like  cattle  and  grouped  to  form  convoys.  In 
these  factories  they  remained  twelve,  twenty-four,  or  thirty-six  hours 
until  a  train  was  ready  to  remove  them. 

"  The  deportation  began  with  the  villages  of  Roncq,  Halluin,  &c.,  then 
Tourcoing  and  Roubaix.  In  the  towns  the  Germans  proceeded  by 
districts. 

"  In  all  about  30,000  persons  are  said  to  have  been  carried  off  up  to  the 
present.  This  monstrous  operation  has  taken  eight  to  ten  days  to 
accomplish.  It  is  feared,  unfortunately,  that  it  may  begin  again  soon. 
The  departures  took  place  in  goods  trucks  to  the  sound  of  the  '  Marseil- 
laise.' 

"  The  reason  given  by  the  German  authorities  is  a  humanitarian(  ?)  one. 
They  have  put  forward  the  following  pretexts :  provisioning  is  going  to 
break  down  in  the  large  towns  in  the  north  and  in  their  suburbs,  whereas 
in  the  Ardennes  the  feeding  is  easy  and  cheap, 

**  It  is  known  from  the  young  men  and  girls,  since  sent  back  to  their 
families  for  reasons  of  health,  that  in  the  Department  of  the  Ardennes 
the  victims  are  lodged  in  a  terrible  manner,  in  disgraceful  promiscuity; 
they  are  compelled  to  work  in  the  fields.  It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that 
the  inhabitants  of  our  towns  are  not  trained  to  such  work.  The  Germans 
pay  them  1'50  m.     But  there  are  complaints  of  insufficient  food. 

"  They  were  very  badly  received  in  the  Ardennes.  The  Germans  had 
told  the  Ardennais  that  these  were  '  volunteers  '  who  were  coming  to 
work,  and  the  Ardennais  proceeded  to  receive  them  with  many  insults, 
which  only  ceased  when  the  forcible  deportation,  of  which  they  were  the 
victims,  became  known. 

"  Feeling  ran  especially  high  in  our  towns.  Never  has  so  iniquitous  a 
measure  been  carried  out.  The  Germans  have  shown  all  the  barbarity  of 
slave  drivers. 

"  The  families  so  scattered  are  in  despair  and  the  morale  of  the  whole 
population  is  gravely  affected.  Boys  of  14,  schoolboys  in  knickerbockers, 
young  girls  of  15  to  16  have  been  carried  off,  and  the  despairing  protests 
of  their  parents  failed  to  touch  the  hearts  of  the  German  officers  or  rather 
executioners. 

"  One  last  detail:  The  persons  so  deported  are  allowed  to  write  home 
once  a  month,  that  is  to  say,  even  less  often  than  military  prisoners." 


33 

Such  are  the  declarations  which  we  have  collected  aud  which,  without 
commentary,  confirm  in  an  even  more  striking  way  the  facts  which  we 
took  the  liberty  of  laying  before  you. 

We  do  not  wish  here  to  enter  into  the  question  of  provisioning  in  the 
invaded  districts;  others,  better  qualified  than  ourselves,  give  you,  as  we 
know,  frequent  information.  It  is  enough  for  us  to  describe  in  a  few 
words  the  situation  from  this  aspect :  — 

The  provisioning  is  very  difficult;  food,  apart  from  that  supplied  by 
the  Spanish-American  Committee,  is  very  scarce  and  terribly  dear 
People  are  hungry  and  the  provisioning  is  inadeciuate  by  at  least  a  half; 
our  population  is  suffering  constant  jjrivations,  and  is  growing  weaker 
noticeably.     The  death-rate  too  has  increased  considerably. 

Sometimes  inhabitants  of  the  invaded  territories  speak  with  a  note  of 
discouragement,  crying  apparently:  "We  are  forsaken  by  everyone!" 
We,  on  the  other  hand,  are  hopeful,  Monsieur  le  President,  that  the 
energetic  interA^ention  on  the  part  of  Neutrals,  which  the  French  Govern- 
ment is  sure  to  evoke,  will  soon  bring  to  an  end  these  measures  which 
rouse  the  wrath  of  all  to  whom  humanity  is  not  an  empty  word 

With  all  confidence  in  the  sympathy  of  the  Government  we  venture 
to  address  a  new  and  pressing  appeal  to  your  generous  kindness  and  far- 
reaching  influence  in  the  name  of  those  who  are  suffering  on  behalf  of  the 
whole  country. 

With  renewed  expression  of  our  gratitude. 

We  have  the  honour  to  subscribe  ourselves, 

Pour  le  Comite  des  interets  economiques  de  Roubaix-Tourcoing  : 

Le  Prhident^ 

Sign6:  TOULEMONDE, 

Membre  de  la  Chambre  de  commerce  de  Roubaix, 
Membre  du  Comite  consultatif  de  I'intendance. 

Pour  la  Fraternelle  des  Combattauts  Roubaisiens  : 

he  President, 

CHARLES   DROULERS, 

Docteur  en  droit, 
President  de  la  Socicte  de  geographic  de  Roubaix. 

Pour  la  Fraternelle  des  prisonniers  de  guerre  de  Roubaix-Tourcoing : 

^    Le  President, 
Signc:    LEON    HATINE-DAZIN. 

Pour  la  Famille  du  soldat  Tourquenois  : 
Le  Vice-President , 

LOUIS   LORTHIOIS. 
Membre  de  la  Chambre  de  commerce  dc  Tourcoing. 

Paris,  15th  June,  1916. 
3,  rue  Taitbout. 


")'J8  C  2 


36 


ANEEXE  B. 


DEPOSITIONS  CONCERNING  LABOUR  ENFORCED  ON  THE 
POPULATIONS  OF  THE  INVADED  DEPARTMENTS. 

{Only  a  selection  of  the  depositions  given  in  the  French  Yellow  Book 
is   reproduced.     The   original   nuvibering   is   preserved.) 

The  following  documents  do  not,  like  the  preceding  ones,  relate  to  a  single  incident. 
Their  principal  interest  lies  in  the  multiplicity  and  variety  of  the  violations  of  inter- 
national law,  carried  out  methodically  and  incessantly  since  the  beginning  of  the  occu- 
pation, in  all  parts  of  the  Departments  occupied.  They  are  extracts  for  the  most  part 
from  depositions  made  on  oath  by  French  subjects  who  had  returned  to  France  after 
having  been  deported  from  the  invaded  departments,  before  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  of 
the  districts  where  they  found  asylum. 

However  important  the  declarations  may  be  aa  regards  ill-treatment  of  all  kinds  to 
which  the  French  have  been  subjected  in  the  invaded  districts,  of  which  the  civilised 
world  will  know  one  day,  answers  are  given  here  only  to  questions  dealing  with  the 
labour  imposed  upon  civilians  in  the  occupied  territories.  As  stated  above,  no  special 
question  upon  this  point  had  been  foreseen  in  the  examination,  and  the  replies  were  given 
spontaneously  by  the  witnesses,  mostly  in  answer  to  the  question  :  ''  Did  the  witness 
receive  good  or  bad  treatment  "  or  under  the  heading  :  "  General  remarks." 

it  did  not  appear  possible  to  give  the  names  of  the  witnesses  or  of  the  localities  whence 
they  had  been  deported,  but  the  original  documents  of  which  the  following  are  duly 
certified  copies,  are  preserved  at  the  Ministry  for  Foreign  Affairs. 

It  has  seemed  the  best  plan  to  classify  these  depositions  so  as  to  bring  out  the  various 
violations  of  the  laws  of  nations  or  of  humanity  which  they  prove. 

1.  The  means  of  compulsion  employed. 

2.  Social  position  of  the  workers. 

3.  Age  and  sex  of  the  workers. 

4.  Duration  of  the  work. 

5.  Compulsion  to  work  away  from  home. 

6.  Transportation  of  interned  civilians  from  Germany  to  work  away  from  home. 

7.  Absence  of  remuneration. 

8.  Diet  of  the  workers. 

9.  Object  of  the  work. 

10.  Forced  collaboration  in  military  operations. 

11.  Work  in  connection  with  military  operations. 

The  classification  is  only  made  for  the  convenience  of  the  reader  and  many  depoBition 
placed  under  one  head  may  relate  also  to  one  or  more  of  the  other  heads. 


MEANS    OF   COMPULSION   EMPLOYED. 

The  means  employed  by  the  German  Authorities 
to  constrain  the  inhabitants  of  the  French  territory 
in  their  occupation  to  work  under  their  orders  have 
been  various  :  threats,  violence,  shooting,  intern- 
ment, deportation  either  of  individuals  or  of 
groups. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  in  a  certain  number  of 
cases  the  German  authorities  tried  to  disguise  the 
compulsion  by  obtaining  from  the  French  people 
in  their  power,  either  verbally  or  in  writing,  con- 
tracts of  sorts  for  work.  These  they  then  repre- 
sented as  voluntary  and  of  free  consent.  A  perusal 
of  the  following  extracts  will  show  the  value  of 
these  contracts — sometimes  obtained  by  fraud — 
deception  as  to  the  nature  of  the  work  or  as  to  its 
destination  (Nos.  226,  241),  or  as  to  the  locality 
(Nos.  95,  119),  as  to  the  duration  or  payment 
(Nos.  153,  159) — sometimes  obtained  by  violence, 
threats,  arrest,  internment,  blows,  starvation,  &c. 
(Nos.  34,  126,  225.  226,  237,  239).  Sometimes 
civilians  had  to  sign  these  contracts  after  being 
formed  into  brigades,  transported  far  from  their 
homes  and  employed  for  a  long  time  in  all  kinds 
of  labour  when  they  were  bound  down  in  conditions 
which  e.xcluded  all  liberty  (Nos.  96,  226)  and  where 
they  could  not  break  the  contract  (No.  54n). 


:J8 


Annexe  84. 

M.     Pierre  L ,  aged  20,  turner,  deported  from  B (]S"ord) :  — 

*'  At  the  present  time  tlie  military  autliority  is  endeavouring  to  recruit 
civilian  artizans,  wlio  are  to  be  put  to  work  on  the  fortifications  of  Lille. 

They  will  be  lodged  at  C and  at  G and  will  receive  5  francs  a 

day  wages.  As  nobody  has  come  forward  voluntarily,  the  military 
authorities  have  warned  the  young  men  of  the  1915,  1916  and  1917 
classes  that  they  will  be  sent  as  iDrisoners  of  war  to  Germany  if  they 
do  not  agree  to  work  for  the  benefit  of  the  German  Administration." 


Annexe  35. 
Mile  Argentine  A ,  aged  27,  workwoman,   deported  from  B- 


(Somme) : — "The  Germans  forced  us  to  work  without  remuneration. 
We  received  neither  money  nor  food,  .  .  .  The  German  heads  of 
departments  and  subordinate  officers  were  in  charge  of  us  and  obliged 
us  to  work  whenever  requisitioned.  If  we  did  not  obey  their  orders, 
they  arrested  us  and  put  us  on  bread  and  water.  .  .  .  We  supported 
ourselves  as  we  best  could,  principally  on  vegetables,  especially  potatoes. 
Sometimes   we   received   help   from   charitable   people.     .     .     .     Emile 

B ,  aged  16,  was  severely  beaten  with  a  stick,  and  kicked  and  cuffed 

because  he  refused  to  work." 


Annexe  37. 
Mme  J.  R ,  aged  25,  maker  of  paper-bags,  deported  from  S- 


(Aisne) : — "All  we  women  were  subjected  to  inspection  every  five  days 
like  women  of  the  town.  Those  who  did  not  accomplish  their  task 
(namely,  sewing  25  sacks)  were  beaten  by  the  Germans,  especially  with 
a  cat-o' -nine-tails.  This  ill-treatment  was  mostly  inflicted  by  a  sergeant 
named  Franz;  I  cannot  give  the  name  of  his  regiment.  There  were 
four  to  look  after  us.     For  the  least  thing  the  Germans  used  to  insult 

and  threaten  us.     .     .     .     One  girl,  J.  G ,  of  S (I  cannot  give 

her  exact  address),  was  beaten  with  the  cat  and  had  a  jug  of  watei: 
poured  over  her  head  because  she  asked  for  something  to  eat.     A  certain 

A (I  cannot  give  any  further  description  of  her)  was  so  severely 

beaten  that  she  was  taken  to  the  hospital,  and  we  did  not  see  her  again." 


Annexe  52. 

Mme     M.     J ,     aged     34,     embroiderer,     deported     from     F 

(Meurthe-et-Moselle) : — "  They  obliged  me  to  do  fatigue  work,  consisting 
of  cleaning  the  road  and  grubbing  up  potatoes  for  them.  One  day,  the 
work  being  behindhand,  the  Germans  hanged  the  Mayor  to  a  tree  by 
cords  passed  under  his  arms.  They  kept  him  in  that  position  for  about 
an  hour  in  the  square  where  the  church  is.  Then  they  fastened  two 
other  Councillors  to  posts  on  either  side  of  the  Mayor.  Only  their  arms 
were  tied  to  the  post." 


39 


Annexe  54b. 

Extract  from  a  Note  Verbale  of  the  Spanish  Einhassy  at  Berlin,  dated 
the  l^th  April,  1916,  transmitting  to  the  French  Embassy  at  Berne 
a  Note  Verbale  of  the  Imperial  Departvient  of  Foreign  Affairs,  dated 
the  Qth  April,  1916. 

In  reply  to  the  note  verhale  of  the  2nd  February  last,  the  Depart- 
ment of  Foreign  Affairs  has  the  honour  to  inform  the  Royal  Embassy 
of  Spain  that  the  detention  of  the  person  mentioned,  Eugene  Muylaert, 
of  Lille,  was  ordered  by  the  German  military  authorities  because  he 
refused  to  perform  the  work  for  which  he  had  contracted  with  the 
authorities.  Moreover,  by  his  insubordinate  conduct  he  induced  a  certain 
number  of  workmen  to  cease  working  for  the  German  Authorities. 


41 


The  State  may  utilise  the  labour  of  prisoners 
of  war  according  to  their  rank  and  capacity.  Their 
tasks  shall  not  be  excessive.  {Hague  Convention, 
18th  October,  1907,  Art  6.) 

This  rule,  which  relates  to  prisoners  of  war, 
applies  with  stronger  force  to  the  civil  population 
who  ought  not  to  be  compelled  to  work. 


II. 

SOCIAL  POSITION  OF  THE  WORKERS. 

III. 
AGE  AND  SEX  OF  THE  WORKERS. 

IV. 
NIGHT  WORK  AND  WORK  UNDER  FIRE. 


42 

II. 

SOCIAL    POSITION    OF    THE    WORKEES. 

Annexe  55. 

Mme  Camille  D ,  aged  28,  no  profession  (her  husband  is  a  con- 
tractor for  public  and  industrial  works),  deported  from  C (Meurthe- 

et-Moselle) : — "  (The  otlier  members  of  the  family)  were  not  ill-treated, 
but  were  exposed  to  continual  annoyances;  she  and  her  grandmother 
(aged  85)  were  obliged  to  act  as  servants  to  the  Germans,  who  threatened 
them  at  every  turn  and  made  them  do  all  sorts  of  humiliating  and 
degrading  work." 


III. 

AGE   AND    SEX    OF    THE    WORKERS. 

Annexe  69. 

M.  P ,  aged  62,  farmer,  deported  from  M (Meuse) : — "They 

never  struck  me,  but  I  was  terrorised;  in  spite  of  my  age  I  had,  during 
the  whole  of  the  winter  of  1914-1915,  to  do  fatigue  work  for  them, 
escorted  and  watched  by  the  soldiers  of  the  Kommandantur,  No.  1,  of 
the  17th  Corps.  The  Germans  had  pillaged  everything  and  they  sold 
back  to  us,  for  our  subsistence,  108  grammes  a  day  of  damaged  rye-flour, 
for  which  they  made  us  pay  at  the  rate  of  75  francs  the  100  kilos." 


Annexe  86. 

M.  L. ,  aged  54,  cloth-embroiderer,  deported  from  L (Aisne) :  — 

"  At  the  beginning  of  August,   1914,   I   had  gone  to   L with  my 

wife  to  carry  out  some  work  on  my  property.  On  the  1st  September, 
1914,  a  great  number  of  Germans  passed  through.  We  took  them  for 
English  soldiers.  In  the  evening  they  were  drunk.  They  spread  terror, 
breaking  the  windows,  pillaging,  destroying  what  they  could  not  swallow, 
leaving  their  filth  everywhere.  An  officer  wanted  to  violate  the 
confectioner's  wife.  The  woman  escaped,  and  the  officer  in  his  drunken 
fury  broke  everj^thing  in  the  shop. 

"  During  the  occupation  rigorous  orders  were  given.  Many  notices  were 
posted  up — I  have  kept  a  number  of  them.  .  .  .  People  had  to 
declare  everything  that  they  possessed ;  there  was  no  milk  and  no  meat  to 
be  had.  To  keep  myself  alive  I  had  sometimes  to  rob  the  soldiers  billeted 
on  me  of  bread,  sausage,  and  butter. 

"  The  provisions  sent  by  the  Americans  did  not  reach  us.  A  man  was 
not  allowed  to  kill  his  own  beasts  for  his  own  use.  It  was  forbidden  to 
sell  any  foodstuffs;  it  was  very  difficult  to  keep  one's  vegetables.  A 
landed  proprietor  complained  that  a  German  soldier  had  stolen  some 
vegetables  from  his  land ;  his  land  was,  by  order,  delivered  over  to  pillage 
and  its  prodxice  carried  ofi.     Captain  Olop,  of  the  Artillery,  who  stayed 

two  months  at  N ,  was  a  brute,  a  drunkard,  and  a  savage;  he  said 

one  day  to  Mme  L that  he  was  surprised  that  the  people  of  R had 

not  perished  of  want,  under  his  regime,  and  that  the  people  of  N 

would   not   perish   either.     Another   officer   made   a    similar   remark   to 

Mme     L to     the     effect     that     the     Germans     took     pleasure     in 

violating  all  the  laws  of  war,  one  after  the  other.     The  Germans  put 


43 

tlie  men  and  women  of  tlie  countryside  to  work.     I  managed  to  avoid 

doing    it.      The    Russian    prisoners    passed    through.    L ,    carrying 

munitions  to  the  front." 


IV.  NIGHT  WORK  AND  WORK  UNDER  FIRE. 

Annexe  88. 

Mile  y ,   aged   27,   day-labourer,    deported   from   H (Pas-de- 
Calais)  : — "  I  can  inform  you  that  my  sister  M ,  who  is  younger  than 

myself,  was  forced  by  the  Germans  to  go  to  work  in  the  fields,  although 
she  was  unaccustomed  to  such  labour,  for  whole  days  and  even  through 
the  night.  My  sister  was  engaged  on  this  work  between  the  lines  of 
the  two  combatants,  in  spite  of  the  continual  bombardment.  She  was 
not  allowed  to  stop  work." 


Annexe  89. 

M.  D ,  aged  55,  miner,  deported  from  H (Pas-de-Calais):  — 

"  At  H the  Germans  forced  girls  between  14  and  35  to  work  in  the 

fields   without    payment    or    wages.     One    night    in    August,    1915,    the 

Germans  compelled  the  girls  of  H to  work  on  the  land  by  night  two 

hundred  metres  from  the  French  front.     That  only  happened  once;  the 
girls  protested  and  refused  to  resume  work." 


Annexe  90. 

Mme  D ,  aged  40,  of  no  profession,  deported  from  H (Pas-de- 
Calais)  : — "  I  have  nothing  to  say  except  that  I  think  I  ought  to  bring 
to  notice  the  conduct  of  the  Germans  in  obliging  the  French — even 
women — to  work  both  by  day  and  by  night  in  fields  lying  between  the 
two  lines  of  fire — and  this  in  spite  of  the  continual  bombardment.     I 

can  even  mention  by  name  the  girl  M who  lives  with  me  at  M and 

who  was  often  engaged  on  this  kind  of  very  dangerous  work.  The 
Germans  were  very  severe,  and  it  was  impossible  to  escape  compliance 
with  their  demands.  So  far  as  I  myself  am  concerned,  I  have  no 
complaint  to  make  on  this  point." 


Annexe  91. 

Mile  V ,  aged  21,  day-labourer,  deported  from  H (Pas  -de- 
Calais)  : — "  I  have  not  been  ill-treated,  but  all  the  same  I  have  occasion 
to  complain  of  the  German  authorities. 

"  For  four  months,  from  June  till  almost  the  end  of  October,  I  was 
compelled  to  work,  by  day  and  often  by  night,  in  fields  situated  between 
the  French  and  German  lines,  in  spite  of  the  shells. 

"  We  were  compelled  to  lie  down  at  night  when  the  French  patrols 
passed.  There  were  a  great  number  of  us;  all  the  people  of  the  village 
who  were  capable  of  working  were  subjected  to  the  same  treatment." 


44 


Annexe  93. 


Mile  Henriette  B ,  aged  18,  sorter  at  the  Mines  at  L ,  deported 

from  D (Pas-de-Calais): — "I  was  imprisoned  for  two  days  for  not 

arriving  punctually  for  the  work  in  the  fields  to  which  we  were  compelled 
to  go  every  day — even  on  Sundays — from  8  to  12,  and  from  2  to  5. 
The  corporal,  whose  name  I  do  not  know,  forced  us  to  remain  at  work 
in  spite  of  the  shells ;  he  himself  used  to  hide  behind  the  hayricks. 
We  had  a  disc  with  a  number,  which  we  carried  round  our 
necks." 


Annexe  94. 

Mile  M ,  deported  from  W (Pas-de-Calais): — "From  March, 

1915,  until  the  30th  September,  1915,  all  the  girls  belonging  to  W 

were  obliged  to  work  in  the  fields,  under  military  escort,  three  times 
a  week,  in  spite  of  the  shells  which,  latterly,  fell  unceasingly.  Once 
the  English  shells  fell  upon  the  metal  works  where  we  were  engaged  in 
threshing  wheat.  The  Germans  went  down  into  the  cellars  but  forced 
us  to  go  on  with  our  work.  A  girl  who  ran  away,  had  to  work  all  the 
day  long,  next  day,  as  a  punishment." 


45 


The  authority  of  the  legitimate  power  having 
actually  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  occupant,  the 
latter  shall  take  all  steps  in  his  power  to  re-establish 
and  insure,  as  far  as  possible,  public  order  and 
safety,  while  respecting,  unless  absolutely  prevented, 
the  laws  in  force  in  the  country.  (Hague  Conven- 
tion, 18th  October,  1907,  Art.  43.) 


V. 
COMPULSORY  LABOUR  AT  A  DISTANCE  FROM  HOME. 


46 


Annexe  95. 

M.    C ,    aged    49,    assistant-surveyor,    deported    from    La    M 

(Meuse) : — "When  I  left  with  my  children  the  German  Commandant 
told  us  to  take  provisions  for  two  days,  informing'  us  that  we  were 
to  be  deported  and  that  we  should  reach  the  Swiss  frontier  in  two  days; 

when  we  arrived  at  L (Meurthe-et-Moselle)  they  kept  us  prisoners 

for  a  month.  We  were  partly  maintained  there  by  the  commune,  and 
my  daughters  were  forced  to  work  for  the  Germans  at  agriculture  and 
at  cleaning  the  streets  and  the  houses  pillaged  by  them ;  they  paid  no 
remuneration.  During  this  time  I  was  ill.  I  was  nursed  to  some  small 
extent  by  my  children,   and  subsequently  found  myself  obliged  to  go 

into  hospital  at  B (Meurthe-et-Moselle),  being  assisted  by  the  said 

commune,  since  I  was  at  the  end  of  my  resources.  When  I  came  out  of 
the  hospital  I  left  the  place." 


Annexe  96. 

Extract  from  the  letter  of  a  prisoner  at  the  German  Internment  Camp 
at  X ,  Sth  April,  1916. 

"  Let  it  be  remembered  that  it  is  thanks  to  this  work  of  our  prisoners 
and  to  the  work  of  the  civilians  brought  from  the  occupied  districts 
(they  compel  them  to  enter  into  engagements  to  work  for  three  months 
or  more  in  Westphalia  or  in  the  Rhineland) — let  it  be  remembered  that 
it  is  thanks  to  this  work  that  our  enemies  reckon  on  being  still  able  to 
produce  what  is  of  service  for  their  defence!  " 


Annexe  99. 

Mme  P ,  aged  45,  cook,  deported  from  0 (Aisne) : — **  No  ill- 
treatment,   but  I,   with  others,   was  requisitioned  to  go  and  bury  the 

French  soldiers  who  had  fallen  in  the  district  of  A (Aisne).     The 

French  soldiers,  taking  us  for  Germans,  fired  some  shells ;  we  fell  back, 
and  the  Germans  took  aim  at  us,  to  prevent  us  from  retreating.  Then 
we  stayed  where  we  were.     Nobody  was  hit." 


Annexe  100. 

M.     A ,     aged     15,     pottery     hand,     deported     from     L :  — 

"  On  the  24th  August,  1914,  an  officer  and  a  sergeant,  seeing  me  on  the 
threshold  of  my  door,  told  me  to  go  to  the  Mairie.     There  they  gave  me 

two  horses  and  ordered  me  to  take   some  guns  to   D .        We  were 

twenty-five  French  drivers  to  twenty-five  horses  and  four  French  75's, 
escorted  by  mounted  dragoons. 

"  At  D I  was  set  to  repairing  the  roads  and  to  building  up  the 

trenches — eight  to  nine  hours'  work  a  day. 

"  For  three  months'  work  I  received  6  marks  in  a  single  payment." 


47 

Annexe  103. 

Declaration  of  M.  F ,  dated  the  20th  June,  1915. 

The  undersigned  T ,   born   at  S ,   having  been  made  a  civil 

prisoner  at  S ,  on  the  5th  December  we  were  interned,  to  the  number 

of  about  a  thousand,  one  section  at  L ,  and  the  remainder  at  Q . 

At  L we  were  forced  to  work  from  6  a.m.  to  4  p.m.,  and  when  you 

fell  ill,  they  came  to  fetch  you  just  the  same,  and  compelled  you  to 
work;  if  anybody  objected  at  all,  it  was  three  days'  cells,  on  bread  and 
water 

I  saw  a  comrade,  who  had  tried  to  escape,  being  beaten ;  he  had  his 
hands  tied  behind  his  back  for  five  days'  cells. 

On  the  13th  March  a  hundred  of  us  were  sent  to  work  at  H ,  in 

the  Somme,  to  dig  beetroots.  We  started  at  six  in  the  morning  and 
worked  till  six  in  the  evening.  Often  if  a  man  raised  his  head  and 
rested  from  work  for  a  few  moments,  the  soldiers  would  throw  them- 
selves on  him,  crying  "  Hof ,  Hof !  "  and  beat  him  with  the  butts  of 
their  rifles  or  throw  beetroots  in  his  face.  Our  diet  was  a  loaf  of 
German  bread  every  three  days ;  coffee  that  was  mere  dirty  water  in 
the  morning;  a  bowl  of  soup  at  noon,  made  with  rice  or  flour;  coffee 
again  in  the  evening. 

It  often  happened  that  we  got  no  bread,  because,  so  they  said,  the 
convoy  had  been  held  up  by  the  French ;  when  some  comrades 
escaped,  we  were  deprived  of  our  food ;  for  two  days  we  had  nothing  but 
coffee  for  our  entire  diet. 

Once  ten  of  our  comrades  escaped;  next  day  eight  of  them  were  re- 
captured. They  received  more  than  two  hundred  blows  with  a  horse-whip 
and  were  deprived  of  bread  for  two  days :  the  guards  who  escorted  them 
to  work  carried  sticks,  and  if  any  of  them  raised  his  head  he  got  a  blow 
from  a  stick  They  were  forced  to  march  with  a  military  step,  to  stand 
to  attention,  and  to  salute  the  German  officers. 

On  the  13th  May  we  were  returned  to  L ,  where  the  diet  consisted 

of  250  grammes  of  bread,  and  (at  4  o'clock)  soup  with  rice  and  a  fragment 
of  meat,  which  smelt,  and  which  one  was  often  obliged  to  throw  away; 
we  were  forced  to  work, — to  go  to  the  forest,  where  we  moved  tree-trunks, 
— or  else  we  loaded  cotton  or  old  iron  for  transport  to  Germany. 

The  Major  in  command  of  the  place  is  named  von  M . 

20th  June,  1915. 

(Signed)         F . 


909S 


49 


Relief  Societies  for  prisoners  of  war,  regularly 
constituted  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  their 
country  with  the  object  of  serving  as  the  inter- 
mediaries for  charity,  shall  receive  from  the  bellige- 
rents, for  themselves  and  their  duly  accredited 
agents,  every  facility,  within  the  bounds  of  military 
necessities  and  administrative  regulations,  for  the 
effective  accomplishment  of  their  humane  task. 
{Hague  Conveiition,  18th  October,  1907,  Art.  15.) 

Tlae  action  of  Relief  Societies,  as  of  the  Embassies 
charged  with  the  defence  of  French  interests,  cannot 
be  practically  exercised  in  regard  to  civilians  not 
prisoners  of  war  who  have  been  brought  back  from 
Germany  to  the  invaded  districts  and  whose 
residence  and  condition  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain. 


VI. 

CIVILIAN  PEISONERS  EETURNED  FEOM  GERMANY  TO 
WORK  AT  A  DISTANCE  FROM  THEIR  HOMES  IN 
OCCUPIED  TERRITORY. 


9098  1)  2 


50 


Annexe  104. 

It  appears  necessary  to  insert  here  the  following  official  document  of  the  German 
Government,  which  establishes  that  civilian  prisoners  have  been  returned  into  occupied 
territory,  without  its  being  possible  to  ascertain  their  residence  or  their  condition,  and 
that  this  step  was  taken  for  reasons  which  the  German  authorities  refuse  to  give.  The 
treatment  of  these  French  citizens  is  subject  to  no  rules  and  no  control.  They  are  com- 
pletely lost  to  their  relatives.     It  is  impossible  to  tell  on  what  work  they  are  employed. 

Extract  from  a  Note  Verbale  of  the  German  Department  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  dated  27th  October,  1915,  coniTnuriicated  to  the  Ministry  of 
Foreign  Affairs  of  the  French  Republic  by  Note  Yerbale  of  the 
Spanish  Embassy  at  Berlin,  13th  November,  1915  (relating  to  the 
transfer  of  civilian  prisoners  who  have  been  returned  froTn  Germany 
to  MontTnedy). 

The  German  authorities  are  clearly  of  opinion  that  they  are  under  no 
obligation  to  state  the  reasons  which  have  motived  this  transfer.  The 
prisoners  in  question — who,  moreover,  have  been  sent  back  to 
Germany  some  time  since — have  enjoyed  ....  the  same  rights  of 
correepondence     .     .     .     .     ,  etc. 


Annexe  105. 

Extract  from  a  letter  of  Mme  D ,  deported  from  C (Somme), 

resident  at  La  R (Vaucluse),  to  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

1st  January,  1916. 

"  I  beg  to  ask  you  for  news  of  my  husband,  made  prisoner  by  the 

Germans  on  the  24th  September,  1914,  in  the  commune  of  C (Somme) ; 

I  am  very  uneasy  about  him.  I  have  received  only  one  letter  from  him — in 
June — in  which  he  told  me  that  he  was  going  into  the  North  of  France 
to  work  in  the  invaded  districts.  I  have,  myself,  had  to  undergo  every 
kind  of  hardship  at  the  hands  of  our  cruel  enemies ;  they  have  burnt  my 
house 

This  is  my  husband's  address:    D ,  civilian  prisoner,  Holzminden 

(Germany)." 


Annexe  106. 

Extract  from  a  letter  from  Mme  B ,  residing  at  G {Auhe),  to 

the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

*'  Sir, — Exiled  from  the  Meuse,  I  had  my  unfortunate  husband, 
who  wae  made  prisoner  on  the  17th  September,  1914,  taken  away  to 
Germany  and  interned  in  the  camp  at  Graf enwohr  till  June,  1915 ;  then 
he  was  returned  to  the  invaded  districts  to  work;  since  then  I  have,  up 

to  now,  received  only  one  card  from  him,  telling  me  that  he  was  at  B 

(Ardennes)." 


51 


Annexe  109. 

Extract  from  a  letter  from  Mvie  B ,  at  C (Oise),  to  the  Minister 

of  Foreign  Affairs,  relative  to  her  brother,  N ,  a  civilian  prisoner 

interned  at  Darmstadt. 

9tli  November,  1915. 

"  My  brother,  M.  N.,  was  a  civilian  prisoner  in  tlie  camp  at  Darmstadt. 
He  has  been  transferred  from  the  camp,  and  is  at  Montmedy,  near  Bar- 
le-Duc  in  the  Meuse,  an  invaded  district;  since  he  was  transferred,  we 
have  had  no  news  of  him.     Letters  are  returned  with  this  address.      .      ." 


Annexe  110, 

Extract  from  a  letter  from  Mme  B ,  at  L (Pas-de-Calais),  to  the 

Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  relative  to  her  son  B . 

13th  December,  1915. 

"  I  should  be  very  grateful  if  you  would  give  me  news  of  my  son  B , 

detained  originally  at  Hameln-s/-Weser,  and  removed  to  Montmedy. 
The  last  two  parcels  sent  to  him  have  been  returned  to  me  and  I  have  had 
no  news  since  the  9th  June     .     .     .     ." 


Annex  111. 

Extract  from  a  letter  from  Mme  K ,  deported  from  B (Meuse), 

residing    at    L (I sere),    to    the    Minister    of    Foreign    Affairs, 

relative  to  her  husband  ,   aged  51,   confined  as  a  prisoner  at 

Ehenherg-Landau,  where  he  remained  till  the  IQth  June. 

29th  November,  1915. 

**  I  have  had  a  card  from  him  in  which  he  tells  me  that  he  is  leaving 
the  camp  at  Ebenberg-Landau  and  is  being  sent  to  Montmedy  (Meuse) — 
that  the  prisoners  are  told  that  they  will  be  able  to  go  and  find  their 
families,  and  that  he  will  write  as  soon  as  he  arrives.  Since  then  I  have 
heard  nothing.  I  had  written  to  the  Agency  for  Prisoners  of  War  at 
Geneva,  I  received  a  card  on  the  23rd  October,  telling  me  that  he  was 
in  the  invaded  districts.     .     .     ." 


Annexe  112. 

Extract  from  a  letter  from  Mme  D ,  at  A (Alpes-M aritiTnes) ,  to 

the   Minister  of  Foreign   Affairs,   relative   to   her   husband   D , 

a(fe<l  38,    made  a  civilian  prisoner  in  September,   1914,   at  M 

(Somme)  and  interned  at  Erftirt. 

29th  November,  1915. 

"  lie  remained  at  Erfurt  till  June;  having  no  news  during  June,  July 
and  August,  I  decided  to  api)ly  to  the  Spanish  Ambassador,  in  the  course 
of  September;  he  informed  me  that  my  husband  was  at  Montmedy. 
Being  entirely  without  news  of  him  since  then,  I  should  be  very 
grateful,  etc." 


52 

Annexe  113. 

Eatract  from  a  letter  from  Mme  P ,  deported  frovi  M {Aisne), 

resident  at  P ,  near  P (Oise),  to  the  Minister  of  Foreign 

Affairs,    relative    to    her    husband    P ,    aged^    46,    and    his    son 

A P ,  aged  21. 

29t]i  November,  1915. 

"  In  the  last  instance  my  husband  left  the  camp  at  Havelberg  towards 
the  end  of  June,  1915,  to  be  sent  probably  to  Montmedy ;  according  to  un- 
official information,  he  would  be  at  the  present  time  in  the  neig-hbourhood 
of  Guise  (Aisne).  My  sou  left  the  camp  at  Havelberg  at  the  end  of 
June,  and  was  also  sent  to  Montmedy ;  he  is  perhaps  in  the  Department 
of  the  Aisne;  the  latest  letter  received  from  him,  in  July  last,  came 
from  F (Aisne)." 


Annexe  114. 

Extract  from  a  letter  from  Mme  M G ,  at  Troyes  (Aube),  to  the 

Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  relative  to  M.  W ,  of  S (Meuse), 

made    a    civilian    prisoner    in    September,    1914,    and    interned    at 
Grafenwohr  till  the  Idth  June,  1915. 

26th  January,  1916. 

"  He  left  at  this  date  (15th  June,  1915)  with  a  party  of  workers  for 
Anderny  (Meurthe-et-Moselle) ;  since  he  left  the  camp  I  am  without 
news." 


Annexe  115. 

Extract  froTYi  a   letter  from   Mme   G to   the   Minister  of  Foreign 

Affairs,   relative   to   M.   J ,   aged  53,   farmer,   made  a   civilian 

prisoner    in    September,    1914,    at    C (Ardennes),    interned    at 

Grafenwohr    (Bavaria)    till    Ibth   June,    1915,    and    to    M.    J , 

aged  22.     (Same  particulars.) 

10th  December,  1915. 

"  All  the  letters  which  I  have  written  to  them  during  June  have  been 
returned  to  me,  marked: — 16.6.15.     Transferred  to  Montmedy." 


Annexe  116. 
(Depositions .) 
M.  L ,  aged  23,  domestic  servant,  deported  from  R ,  near  B- 


(Ardennes) : — "Arrested  in  September,   1914.     Shut  up  in  the  church 

at    R with   three   hundred    men    of   the   adjacent    villages.     Taken 

to   Grafenwohr   (Bavaria).      Returned   from   Grafenwohr   to    Montmedy 

15th  June,   1915.      He  was  sent  from  Montmedy  to  C (Ardennes) 

with  62  other  prisoners.  He  is  employed  there  in  agricultural  work : 
on  the  crops.  These  are  seized  by  the  Germans  to  be  sent  to 
Germany.  As  for  potatoes,  they  leave  to  the  inhabitants  only  60  pounds 
a  head  for  3  months.  He  received  in  wages  one  franc  a  day,  out  of 
which  they  levied  50  pfennigs  for  food.  So  he  and  the  other  prisoners 
had  30  pfennigs  a  day  left!     He  escaped." 


53 


Annexe  117. 


M.  H ,  aged  19,  farm-servant  at  F (Meuse) : — "Arrested  at 

Forges,  ITtli  September,  1914,  with  ten  hostages.     Taken  to  G ,  then 

to    E, ,    then    to    T ,    and    to    camp    at    Grafenwohr    (Bavaria). 

Brought  back  to  France  (15th  June,  1915)  and  employed  on  agricultural 
work  in  the  Canton  of  C (Ardennes)." 


Annexe  118. 

M.   F ,   aged   21,   bank   clerk,   at   C (Nord) : — "Arrested   in 

October,  1914,  at  B (Meuse).     Taken  to  camp  at  Darmstadt.     He 

left  Darmstadt  in  May,  1915,  for  Montmedy,  when  he  was  sent  to  P 

(Ardennes),  where  he  stayed  till  the  end  of  October.  Afterwards  he 
moved  about  the  Canton  generally.  During  this  time  he  was  engaged 
on  agricultural  work — mostly  threshing.  He  escaped  in  January, 
1916." 


Annexe  119. 

M.  C ,  aged  58,  farmer,  deported  from  C (Aisne),  February, 

1916  : — "  I  stayed  at  Zerbst  from  October  till  June.  Then  they  took  all 
the  farmers  and  told  them  that  they  were  to  be  sent  back  to  their  country, 

but  really  it  was  to  do  haymaking  for  the  Germans.     The  city  of  L 

fed  us,  and,  as  it  had  not  much  to  spare,  we  were  even  worse  off  than 
before.  It  was  good,  but  there  was  precious  little  of  it !  During  this 
time  it  was  impossible  for  us  to  go  and  see  our  families." 


Annexe  120. 

M.  V ,  aged  55,  drover,  deported  from  T ,  Canton  of  V 

(Aisne): — "In  the  camp  at  Zerbst  there  were  about  12,000  French 
soldiers,  and  about  500  civilians.  At  Holzminden  they  reckoned  that 
there  were  from  16,000  to  18,000  prisoners;  400  civilian  prisoners  left 

the  camp  on  the  9th  February,  1916,  to  be  repatriated.     At  L he 

found  himself  one  of  the  150  civilian  prisoners  from  the  Aisne,  returned 
from  Germany  for  the  hay  harvest;  he  was  lodged  in  the  barracks  and 
fed  by  the  municipality." 


55 


Neither  Requisitions  in  kind  nor  services  can  be 
demanded  from  communes  or  inhabitants  except 
for  the  necessities  of  the  army  of  occupation.  They 
must  be  in  proportion  to  the  resources  of  the 
country.  {Hague  Convention,  \Uh  October,  1907, 
Art.  52.) 


VII. 
WORK  WITHOUT  EEMUNERATIOI^. 

YIII. 
DIET  OF  THE  WORKERS. 


56 


VII. 

WORK   WITHOUT   REMUNERATION. 

Annexe  122. 

M.  F ,  Swiss  citizen,  born  at  T ,  Canton  of  Lucerne,  aged  53, 

cowman  on  the  farm  of  M.  J. ,  at  N (Maine),  and  bailiff  of  tbe 

farm: — "From  tbe  5th  September  onwards  the  Germans  forced  me  to 
work  every  day  at  most  revolting  labour,  made  me  answer  to  a  roll- 
call  twice  a  day,  and  never  gave  me  a  farthing.  Until  February  I  had 
to  pay  for  the  bread  which  was  measured  out  to  me  (125  grammes  of 
black  bread).     After  February  the  bread  was  provided  by  the  commune." 


Annexe  124. 

M.   C ,   aged  44,   keeper,   deported   from   B (Maine): — "He 

declared  that  the  Germans  had  detained  one  of  his  sons,  aged  17. 
They  made  him  work  on  the  land ;  he  was  paid  15  centimes  a  day,  as  he 
also  was  himself  while  in  the  invaded  districts." 


Annexe  126. 

M.  B ,  depoited  fiom  L (Nord) : — "The  German  authorities 

compelled  us  to  work  in  the  fields,  getting  beetroots  and  what  remained 
of  the  ciops.  All  the  women  and  girls,  as  well  as  the  men,  were  forced 
to  go,  without  any  pay.  At  the  least  sign  of  refusal,  they  talked  of 
shooting  us." 


Annexe  134. 

Mme  B ,  aged  58,  householder,  deported  from  A (Arden- 
nes) : — (She  was  not  ill-tieated  but)  "  The  Geimans  obliged  her  and  her 
daughtei  to  wash  the  linen  of  the  German  Red  Cioss  Hospitals.  They 
ordered  that  the  linen  should  be  returned  dry  within  a  certain  time — 
regardless  of  the  temperature ! — and  threatened  one,  if  it  was  not  ready, 

with  being  sent  as  a  piisoner  to  what  they  called  "  the  ",  that  is 

to  say  the  iionwoiks  at .     For  the  laundry  work  they  gave  us  bills 

drawn  on  M.  Poincare." 

(This  is  corroborated  in  Annexe  137  by  Mile  B ,  daughter  of  Mme  B .) 


57 

VIII. 

DIET    OF    THE    WORKERS. 

Annexe  142. 

Mile  B ,  aged  18,  farm-servant,  deported  from  M (Aisne) :  — 

"  They  compelled  me  to  act  as  servant  to  German  officers.  But  I  slept 
at  home,  to  avoid  any  attempt  upon  me.  The  officers'  military  servants 
accompanied  me  both  coming  and  going.  I  was  not  paid,  but  I  ate  at 
the  officers'   quarters." 


Annexe  146. 

Mme  G ,  aged  37,  small  holder,  deported  from  L (Arden- 
nes) : — "  For  four  months  I  had  to  work  for  the  Germans,  who  forced  me 
to  milk  a  herd  of  cows  and  to  clean  the  streets,  but  I  never  got  any  wages 
for  this  work.  They  gave  me  a  loaf  of  bread — about  3  pounds — for 
myself,  my  four  children,  my  father-in-law,  and  my  husband;  even  this 
amount  they  did  not  give  us  every  day." 


Annexe  149. 

Mme  S ,  aged  31,  lace-maker,  deported  from  A (Meurthe-et- 

Moselle) : — "From  the  moment  that  they  deported  me  they  forced  me 
to  go  and  plant  potatoes  and  cultivate  and  sow  the  fields  for  them.  For 
at  least  two  months  all  they  gave  us  was  three  pounds  of  black  bread 
to  last  five  people  three  days  !  ' ' 


59 


Requisitions  in  kind  must  be  in  proportion  to 
the  resources  of  the  country. 

Supplies  in  kind  shall  as  far  as  possible  be  paid 
for  in  ready  money  ;  if  not,  their  receipt  shall  be 
acknowledged  and  the  payment  of  the  amount  due 
shall  be  made  as  soon  as  possible.  {Hague  Conven- 
tion, 1907,  Art.  52.) 

An  army  of  occupation  can  only  take  possession 
of  cash,  funds  and  realizable  securities  which  are 
strictly  the  property  of  the  state,  depots  of  arms, 
means  of  transport,  stores  and  supplies,  and, 
generally,  all  movable  property  of  the  state  which 
may  be  used  for  operations  of  war.  (Ibid., 
Art.  53.) 


IX. 

OBJECT    OF    THE    WORK. 


60 

Annexe  151. 

Mme  G ,  aged  46,  liouseliolder,  deported  from  C (Aisne)  on 

12th  January,  1916: — "The  inhabitants  and  working  people  of  C 

are  obliged  to  work  in  the  fields.  The  Germans  take  possession  of  all 
the  crops. 

"  Up  till  1st  September,  1915,  the  men  received  1  fr.  a  day,  and  the 
women  60  centimes,  but  since  that  date  the  Germans  have  stopped  pay- 
ment and  make  the  people  work  just  the  same." 


Annexe  152. 

Mme   C ,    deported    from    G (Meuse) : — "During   the   three 

weeks  that  we  were  at  G (Meuse)  with  110  people  from  the  same 

village,  camped  in  a  barn,  I  was  compelled  to  go  into  the  fields  every 
day,  beginning  on  17th  September  1914,  to  gather  potatoes  and  beetroot. 
We  were  requisitioned  by  German  non-commissioned  officers,  guarded 
by  soldiers,  and  we  used  to  work  in  gangs  of  20  at  least. 

"We  began  work  at  8  o'clock  in  the  morning;  we  returned,  under 
escort,  to  our  barn  for  our  midday  meal,  which  consisted  of  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  black  bread  and  some  horrible  sort  of  soup. 

"  We  worked  again  from  2  till  5. 

"  We  were  not  paid ;  we  were  only  authorised  to  pick  up  a  few  potatoes 
to  eke  out  our  food. 

"  We  slept  anyhow  on  dirty  straw,  not  to  say  litter. 

"  From  G we  were  taken  to  D (Meuse),  where  we  remained  17 

days.     I  was  occupied  each  day  in  removing  the  crop  of  potatoes  and 

beans.     The  order  of  work  and  the  food  was  the  same  as  at  G .     We 

slept  in  a  fine  barn,  in  a  bed.     We  were  authorised  to  take  from  G 

our  sleeping  effects  (except  the  bed)  because  there  were  among  us  some 
old  men  and  young  children. 

"  I  may  add  that  all  the  crops  that  we  collected  were  for  the  great  part 
sent  away  to  Germany ;  the  trees,  too — walnut  trees,  cherry  trees — which 
the  Germans  pulled  up." 

(Walnut  is  used  to  make  the  butts  of  rifles.) 


Annexe  153. 
M.  Albert  Camille  L ,  aged  17,  no  profession,  deported  from  A- 


(Oise),  in  January,  1915: — "Directly  the  Germans  came,  we  really 
suffered  from  hunger.  We  only  had  120  grammes  of  foul  black  bread. 
As  to  meat,  we  only  had  the  refuse  thrown  away  by  the  soldiers,  and  we 
had  to  pay  very  high  even  for  that. 

"The  Boches  encouraged  the  population  to  cultivate  the  land ;  they  even 
sold  us  potatoes  for  seed ;  then,  when  the  crop  was  ready,  they  took  it 
all  without  even  giving  requisition  vouchers.  The  corn  they  worked  at 
themselves  without  troubling  about  the  boundaries  of  the  fields;  they 
demanded  repayment  of  the  price  of  this  work,  then  harvested  it  all  and 
took  it.  It  was  absolutely  forbidden  for  us  to  have  any  corn  or  meat 
in  our  houses  on  pain  of  imprisonment. 

"  The  Germans  took  prisoner  about  40  civilians,  between  18  and  45, 
in  our  village.  Ten  are  shut  up  in  the  factory  of  C.  They  are  employed 
on  forced  labour.  All  the  trees  in  this  district  are  cut  down.  There  is 
not  a  walnut  tree  left." 


61 


Any  compulsion  on  the  population  of  occupied 
territory  to  furnish  information  about  the  army  of 
the  other  belligerent  or  about  his  means  of  defence 
is  forbidden. — {Hague  Convention.     Art.  44.) 

The  giving  up  to  pillage  of  a  town  or  place,  even 
when  taken  by  assault,  is  forbidden. — {Hague  Con- 
vention.    Art.  28.) 

A  belligerent  is  likewise  forbidden  to  compel 
nationals  of  the  adverse  party  to  take  part  in  the 
operations  of  war  directed  against  their  country. — 
{Hague  Convention.     Art.  23.) 


X. 

FORCED    COLLABORATION   IN   MILITARY   OPERATIONS. 


This  evidence  is  only  reproduced  here  because  it 
is  connected  with  the  depositions  about  the  labour 
imposed  on  the  populations  of  the  invaded  Depart- 
ments. It  corroboi'ates  too  facts  of  the  same  nature 
already  leported  by  the  Commission  appointed  to 
establish  German  violations  of  international  law. 


62 


a.  Compulsion  under  Threats  to  give  Information  to  the  Enemy. 

Annexe  155. 

M.  C. ,  aged  71,  farmer,  deported  from  P (Vosges),  on  lOth 

October,  1915: — "  One  day,  I  think  it  was  the  13th  or  14th  September, 

they  commandeered  me  to  shew  them  the  way  to  the  Chateau  of  P . 

At  a  halt  the  soldiers  showed  me  some  cartridges  to  threaten  me;  one 
of  them  pretended  to  cut  my  throat  with  the  back  of  his  sword.  I  only 
got  home  at  5  o'clock  in  the  evening. 

"  When  I  got  home  I  found  my  house  had  been  looted.  A  calf  had 
been  stolen.     My  linen  was  thrown  about." 


6.  Collaboration  in  Looting. 
Annexe  158. 


M.    M. ,    aged    49,    farmer,  deported    from    M (Meurthe-et- 

Moselle),  on  4th  January,  1915  : — "  M.  M. witnessed  organised  loot- 
ing. The  prisoners  were  sent  to  fetch  the  objects  taken  out  of  the  houses 
and  carried  them  on  wheelbarrows  to  the  German  captain,  who  had  all  the 
plunder  loaded  on  trucks.  This  forced  labour  was  done  by  prisoners 
under  an  armed  escort.  The  German  soldiers  also  laid  hands  on  the 
bottles  of  wine  and  spirits  in  the  cellars;  they  drank  these  liquors  till 
they  were  soon  in  a  state  of  extreme  drunkenness." 


Annexe  159. 

Extract  from  a  Declaration  made  hy  M.  B. ,  a  French  soldier  of  the 

21st  Coy,  Regiment  of  Infantry,   before  the  French  Consul- 

General  at  Rotterdam,  28th  September,  1915  :  — 

"  Towards  the  beginning  of  September,  1915,  the  Germans  began,  in 
the  streets  of  H (Aisne),  to  collect  the  peaceful  inhabitants,  able- 
bodied  men,  and  make  them  work  under  their  orders. 

"  There  was  a  captain  or  commandant  in  charge  of  the  town.  Each 
day  brought  an  order  more  terrible  than  the  last;  alarming  placards 
covered  the  walls. 

"  Requisitions  of  wines  and  liqueurs,  spirits,  &c.,  of  furniture, 
mirrors,  bedding,  wardrobes,  phonographs,  photographic  apparatus, 
arms,  horses  and  foals,  cows  and  calves,  as  they  needed  them. 

"  Everything  was  carried  off  systematically  and  sent  away  to 
Germany.  All  this  work  was  done  by  the  men  who  were  left  in  the 
country  and  were  paid  by  the  town.  Wbat  was  not  carried  off  was 
broken  to  pieces  and  made  useless." 


Annexe  160. 

M.   M ,   aged   70,   farmer,   deported   from   M (Pas-de-Calais), 

5th  April,  1915: — "  At  C ,  where  he  stayed  five  months,  he  was  for 

most  of  the  time  badly  fed  and  camped  with  others  in  a  large  building 
where  there  was  nothing  but  damp  straw  (food :  remains  of  slaughtered 
beasts,  a  few  carrots  and  black  bread). 


63 

"  In  this  place  tlie  able-bodied  men  were  employed  by  the  Germans  in 
dismantling-  and  packing  up  the  contents  of  two  factories ;  all  the  objects 
and  materials  as  well  as  the  machinery  were  loaded  onto  motor  waggons 
or  lorries  and  transported  to  Germany.  One  of  the  factories  is  situated 
on  the  Bapaume  road ;  the  other  in  Cambrai  itself,  close  to  the  canal.  In 
the  first  about  1,900  bales  of  linseed,  400,000  kilos,  of  oilcake,  with  all 
accessory  machinery;  it  was  the  same  in  the  other." 


(c)  Civilians  employed  as  a  shield. 

Annexe  161. 

Mile  D ,   aged  24,    no  profession,  deported  from  H (Meuse) 

in  February,    1915: — "At  C (Meuse)   the   Germans  had  civilians 

placed  in  rows  in  front  of  the  German  lines  to  get  them  killed  by  French 
bullets;  the  French  did  not  fire."  (The  incident  referred  to  took  place 
on  September  23rd,  1914.) 


Annexe  162. 

M.  L ,  aged  73,  farm-servant,  deported  from  M (Ardennes)  :  — 

**  The  undersigned  saw,   from  his   garden,   two  persons  wounded  with 
bombs.     They  were  being  forced  to  march  in  front  of  the  Germans." 


Annexe  163. 

Mme    M ,    aged   48,    agricultural   worker,    deported   from   A- 

(Oise),  24th  February,  1915: — "My  husband,  M ,  born  at  R- 


on  4th  April,  1867,  was  arrested  on  22nd  September,  1914,  in  our  home. 
Was  taken,  with  other  Frenchmen,  to  the  second  line  of  fire  so  that 
they  should  be  bombarded  by  our  own  countrymen.     Brought  back  to 

the  church  at  A ,  kept  for  two  days,  then  taken  to  F ,  and  from 

there  to  Germany. 

"  Since  then  I  have  had  no  news  of  him  except  through  the  Red  Cross 
on  25th  September,  1915." 


Annexe  164. 

Mme    S ,    aged    40,    day-worker,    deported    from    S (Meuse), 

13th  May,   1915:— "The  schoolmaster  of  Stenay,  M.   T ,  was  put 

to  scout  for  them  by  the  Germans  when  they   entered  the  town.     He 
was  killed  by  French  bullets." 


Annexe  166. 

Mme  A ,  aged  25,  seamstress,  deported  from  L (Meurtlie-et- 

Moselle),  20th  March,  1915:— "The  inhabitants  of  V took  refuge 

in  L .     I  saw  them  arrive  covered  with  blood ;  their  beards  had  been 

torn  out;  they  had  been  maltreated.     According  to  them,  the  Germans 

put  them  in  front  of  their  troops  in  the  advance  on  L ,  where  they 

were  fired  on  from  the  fort." 

9098  E 


64 


Annexe  167. 


M.  Q ,  aged  65,  day  labourer,  deported  from  P (Aisne)  the 

end  of  February,  1915: — "Forty  women,  wbo  had  been  arrested  and 
were  guarded  by  armed  men,  were  obliged  to  clean  the  roads,  to  take 
manure  into  the  j&eld  opposite  Soissons,  at  the  place  called  Lapre,  in 
order  to  defy  the  Allies  and  prevent  them  firing." 


Annexe  168. 

M.  B ,  aged  63,  day  labourer,  deported  from  M (Ardennes), 

14th  December,  1915: — "The  German  authorities  had  all  the  trees  cut 
down,  cut  into  lengths,  and  sent  them  to  Germany.  Thirty  men  were 
always  taken  as  hostages  and  were  put  on  the  railway  lines." 


Annexe  169. 
Mme  F ,   aged  51,   owner  of  a  vineyard,    deported   from   C- 


(Meuse),  9th  December,  1914  : — "  The  day  of  her  arrest  and  the  following 
day  she  was  taken  on  two  separate  occasions  on  to  the  hill  with  a  party 
of  villagers  and  placed  in  front  of  the  German  first  line ;  the  first  day 
from  noon  till  6  o'clock,  the  second  time  all  day. 

"  She  received   no  food  from  the  Prussians  during  her  internment  in 
the  church ;  she  used  to  go  and  fetch  something  to  eat  in  the  fields." 
(These  incidents  took  place  on  the  18th  and  19th  September,  1914,  at  C (Meuse).) 


Annexe  170. 

M.    S ,    aged     17,    farm   hand,    deported    from    R (Somme), 

12th  February,   1915:— "On  their  arrival  at  R on  August  30th, 

1914,  the  Germans  did  not  treat  the  civilian  population  badly,  but  when 
they  came  back  from  the  battle  of  the  Marne,  they  killed  several  civilians. 
Four  days  after  their  retreat  they  forced  me,   as  well  as  the  deputy 

mayor  of  R ,  to  go  in  front  of  them  in  the  firing  line  in  consequence 

of  the  advance  of  the  French  on  R .     Fnder  cover  of  the  darkness  we 

returned  to  R about  midnight — my   father,   who  was  with  me,   as 

well.  Every  day  we  were  compelled  to  attend  a  roll-call  about  8  o'clock 
in  the  morning  and  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  When  they  were  at 
Rove,  the  Germans  compelled  us  to  clean  the  town." 


Annexe  171. 

Mile  G ,  aged  12,  no  profession,  deported  from  B (Somme), 

31st  November,  1914?— "Once,  in  September,  1914,  about  7  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  my  aunt  and  I  were  taken  as  hostages,  when  we  were 
ot  breakfast;  they  took  us,  with  four  other  girls,  towards  the  station. 
There  they  placed  us  in  front  of  them  (it  was  a  party  of  Uhlans)  and 

opened  fire  on  the  French,  who  replied ;  my  uncle,  Paul  V ,  who  was 

with  us,  received  a  bullet  through  the  heart  and  fell  dead.  We  lay  down 
on  the  ground,  pretending  to  be  dead;  then  some  Zouaves  arrived  and 
captured  the  party  of  Uhlans.      Then  we  were  free  and  went  home." 


65 


Annexe  172. 

Mme  F .  aged  56,  householder,  deported  from  S (Meurthe-et- 

Moselle),  19tli  December,  1914: — "Every  demand  of  the  Germans  was 
accompanied  by  threats,  and  was  made  by  them  revolver  in  hand. 

"  On  August  22nd,  1914,  the  Germans  made  the  whole  population 
come  out  of  their  houses  and  forced  them  to  march  in  front  of  their 
columns  towards  the  French  guns. 

"  I  do  not  know  the  name  of  the  German  officer  in  command.  Besides, 
I  heard  he  was  killed  that  day." 


Annexe  173. 

M.  M ,  aged  63,  mason,  deported  from  B : — "  On  October  8th, 

1914,  in  company  with  about  a  hundred  civilian  prisoners,  men,  women 
and  children,  he  was  compelled  with  threats  to  march  in  front  of  a  strong 
detachment  of  German  troops. 

"  These  troops  apparently  wanted  to  cross  a  bridge  over  a  stream  not 

far  from  B ,  and,  as  they  thought  that  the  French  troops  would 

defend  the  bridge,  they  made  this  troop  of  prisoners  march  in  front 
of  them. 

''  Close  to  the  bridge,  indeed,  the  French  opened  fire  on  the  Germans; 
the  latter  soon  gave  way.  We  were  thrown  into  a  ditch  beside  the  road 
and  none  of  us  was  hit  by  the  French  bullets.  Some  hours  later,  as  the 
French  were  no  longer  firing,  and  with  good  reason,  as  they  had  been 
ordered  to  retire,  the  Germans  came  back  to  look  for  us;  they  made  us 
leave  our  shelter  by  pricking  us  with  their  bayonets." 


Annexe  176, 

Mme     N ,      aged      28,      householder,      deported      from      M 

(Ardennes): — "On  August  26th,  1914,  at  9  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
the  Germans  made  me  prisoner  and  put  me  with  53  others,  women 
and  children,  in  front  of  their  troops  to  prevent  the  French  firing  at 
them.  In  spite  of  this,  the  French  fired  at  the  Germans  over  our  heads, 
without  hitting  us.     We  remained  in  this  situation  till  1  o'clock." 


Annexe  179. 

M.   P ,   aged   61,   freeholder,    deported   from   R (Nord),    7th 

February,    1916: — "The   Germans   took   me  prisoner  in   my   house;   an 

officer  of  the  rank  of  lieutenant  took  me  into  the  battle  of  R ;  on 

the  way  I  was  struck  several  times  by  another  German  officer  with  the 
fiat  of  his  sword. 

"  When  I  reached  the  front  of  their  detachment  I  found  my  neighbour 

G ,  aged  about  62,  a  retired  factory  sujjerintendent,  wbo  was  killed  in 

the  course  of  the  battle,  certainly  by  a  French  bullet." 


9098  E  2 


66 


Annexe  181. 

Mme  Y ,  aged  54,  charwoman,  deported  from  S (Ardennes), 

23rd  April,  1915 :—''  The  German  troops  reached  S on  the  25th  of 

August,  1914,  at  9  o'clock  in  the  morning,  preceded  by  some  Uhlans. 
The  latter  were  driving  in  front  of  them  men,  women,  and  children  from 

the  town  to  act  as  guides.     Among  them  were  M.   M and  Mme 

L .     M.   M was   killed  by  the  bullets  of  French  soldiers  who 

tried  for  a  moment  to  oppose  the  enemy's  entry.  His  dead  body  was 
found  in  the  street.     Mme  L returned  home  safe  and  sound. 

"  Many  of  the  inhabitants  of  S ,  among  them  the  couple  H , 

relations  of  this  repatriated  woman,  living  at  T 0 ,  can  cor- 
roborate this  story." 


Annexe  183. 

M.    B ,    aged   42,    workman,    deported    from    L (Meurthe-et- 

Moselle),  28th  November,   1915:— "On  August  1st,   1914,   M.   B , 

who  had  been  for  nearly  twenty  years  employed  in  a  foundry  at  I^- 


(Meurthe-et-Moselle),  presented  himself  at  the  police  station  of  this  town 
where  he  was  told  that  he  must  await  a  summons  to  serve,  as  he  was 
liable  for  auxiliary  service. 

"  On  August  6th,  knowing  that  the  enemy  was  investing  L ,  he 

decided  to  make  for  the  French  lines;  the  next  day,  August  7th,  he  was 
arrested  by  the  Germans  at  C (Meurthe-et-Moselle) ;  his  captors  ill- 
treated  him,  taking  from  him  2,220  fr.  in  cash.  From  the  7th  to  the 
27th  of  August  they  kept  him  with  them,  giving  him  no  food  and 
pushing  him  into  the  front  rank  if  attacked ;  that  is  how  he  received 
four  wounds,  a  fracture  of  the  left  leg  necessitating  his  transportation 
to  Metz,  then  to  Regensburg  (Bavaria). 

"  Put  first  in  barracks,  then  in  the  civilian  prison,  he  remained  at 
Eegensburg  from  September  12th,  1914,  till  February  20th,  1915,  and 
during  this  time  was  not  able  to  correspond  in  any  way  with  his  family, 
who  thought  him  dead.  On  this  last  date  he  was  transferred  to  the 
camp  at  Holzminden,  where,  after  some  days,  he  was  admitted  to  the 
hospital,  which  he  only  quitted  on  November  28th,  1915,  to  be 
repatriated." 


Annexe  184. 

Mme  F ,  aged  65,  dressmaker,  deported  from  V (Aisne),  10th 

January,    1916: — "On   September   16th,   1914,   at  the  moment  of  the 

French  attack,  the  Germans  had  made  loopholes  in  the  walls  at  V 

(Aisne)  through  which  the  riflemen  had  levelled  their  rifles,  and  they 
had  placed  a  certain  number  of  inhabitants,  including  my  family  and 
my  grandchildren^  on  the  other  side  of  the  wall,  in  front  of 
the  rifles.  The  French  attack  having  developed  on  the  other  side,  the 
Germans  sent  the  women  and  children  home  and  kept  the  men,  who 
were  sent  into  captivity  in  Germany." 

(')  Girls  aged  13,  8,  and  U  years. 


67 

Annexe  185. 

Mme    W (F),    aged    36,    no    profession,    deported    from    M 

(Meurthe-et-Moselle),  14tli  May,  1915: — ''On  the  morning  of  August 
23rd,  1914,  tliere  was  an  artillery  duel  between  the  French  and  German 

armies  above  M ,  which  by  some  extraordinary  chance  did  not  suffer. 

When  the  Germans  arrived,  they  set  fire  to  the  village,  on  the  pretext 
that  they  had  been  fired  at,  which  was  untrue.  In  an  instant  almost  all 
the  houses,  which  were  farms,  were  in  flames.  They  tried  to  set  fire 
to  mine,  too,  but  it  was  only  partially  burnt. 

"  They  looted  all  the  inside,  carrying  off  all  my  belongings,  even  my 
underlinen.  As  I  deal  in  wine,  I  had  various  liquors  in  my  cellar.  All 
that  could  not  be  drunk  on  the  spot  or  carried  off  was  scattered  about  in 
the  cellar  or  broken ;  there  was  10  centimetres  of  liquid  in  the  cellar. 

"  The  next  day  they  completed  the  disaster  by  burning  the  remaining 
houses.  At  the  present  moment  about  seven  are  left  intact  out  of  about 
fifty. 

"  Meanwhile,  the  male  population  had  been  assembled,  and  the 
Germans  threatened  to  shoot  them,  on  the  pretext  that  there  had  been 
firing  from  the  village. 

"  They  were  placed  in  front  of  a  body  of  Germans  who  were  advancing 
in  the  direction  of  the  French  positions. 

"  They  marched  so  for  three  hours ;  at  last,  at  9  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
as  the  German  detachment  had  not  been  attacked,  they  were  brought 
back  to  M under  escort. 

"  The  troops  who  committed  these  crimes  were  the  119th  Regiment 
of  Infantry  and  the  122nd  which  came  the  next  day.  It  was  by  order 
of  the  superior  officers,  for  in  Germany  the  soldiers  are  too  well 
disciplined  to  act  on  their  own  initiative." 


Annexe  186. 

M.     D ,    day    labourer,    deported    from    L (Somme),    27th 

February,  1915: — "  In  L I  lived  on  the  road  to  F ,  at  the  edge 

of  the  district,  towards  C .     On  the  morning  of  the  24th  September, 

1914,  our  117th  Regiment  of  Infantry  was  engaged  with  the  Germans. 
There  was  a  rattle  of  musketry  and  gradually  our  troops  evacuated  the 
village.  About  one  o'clock  the  German  infantry  arrived;  they  were  mad 
with  rage.  To  the  number  of  about  20,  they  came  into  my  house.  One 
of  them — I  think  he  was  a  non-commissioned  officer — seized  me  brutally 
by  the  arm  and  forced  me  into  the  street,  while  his  companions  laid 
hands  on  my  chickens  and  rabbits  and  took  possession  of  my  clothes. 

First,  they  led  me  towards  R ;  in  the  course  of  their  march  I  saw 

them  ransack  the  houses  and  arrest  the  men,  whom  they  drove  in  parties 
in  front  of  them. 

"  The  Germans  ordered  us  to  take  the  road  to  L .     Scarcely  had  we 

reached  the  square  in  L ,  when  the  French,  posted  at  the  beginning 

of  the  open  country,  opened  a  brisk  fire.     D ,  G.  C ,  E.  C , 

and  C fell  at  my  side  from  bullets  meant  for  the  Germans.     The 

firing  ceased  at  once.     The  Germans  recoiled  slightly,  telling  us  not  to 

move.     I  helped  D 's  sons  to  look  to  their  father.     At  about  5  o'clock 

in  the  evening  I  succeeded  in  escaping,  but  a  few  minutes  later  I  was 
caught  again  and  kept  under  surveillance  with  twenty-three  of  my  neigh- 
bours till  the  next  morning,  then  released.  From  September  24th  till 
October  6th,  1914,  the  German  authorities  forbade  the  inliabitauts  to 
leave  their  houses  on  pain  of  death.  On  October  6th  I  was  arrested  by 
the  Germans  with  twenty-four  of  my  neighbours." 


69 


Requisitions  in  kind  and  services  must  be  of  such 
a  nature  as  not  to  imply  for  the  population  any 
obligation  to  take  part  in  military  operations  against 
their  country.     (Hague  Convention,  Article  52.) 


XI. 
AVOEK   IN   CONNECTION  WITH   MILITARY  OPERATIONS. 


70 

a.   Construction  of  Trenches,  Roads,  and  Railways. 

Annexe  198, 

M.  B ,  aged  61,  day  labourer,  deported  from  A (Somme)  :  — 

"  At  P official  orders  were  issued  imposing'  work;  at  S no  official 

order  was  issued;  at  least,  I  saw  none." 

*'  Round  P and  S ,  civilians,  of  from    16  to  50  years,  were 

diffo-iua"  trenches." 


"^CJO^ 


Annexe  199. 

Mme  F ,  dejsorted  from  B (Aisne) : — "  The  village  of  B 

was  invaded  by  the  Germans  on  September  1st,  1914,  and  I  do  not  know 
of  any  punishment  being  inflicted  on  workers  employed  by  the  enemy; 
at  the  same  time,  when  they  needed  men  for  work,  they  used  to  announce 
to  the  population  with  a  bell  that  they  were  to  go  and  clean  out  the 
canal  and  unload  coal  and  repair  the  bridges  and  railway  lines.  For 
this  work  they  got  no  pay  except  a  voucher  for  bread  to  the  value  of 
30  centimes, 

"  Further,  I  can  state  that  on  November  14th,  1914,  two  officers  on 
their  rounds  came  and  ordered  us  to  open  our  door  at  half-past  eight 
(French  time) ;  one  of  them  was  a  lieutenant,  the  other  was  a  sub- 
lieutenant. 

"  When  we  had  obeyed  their  orders,  they  came  in,  revolver  in  hand, 
and  at  the  same  moment  the  sub-lieutenant  went  up  to  my  sister-in-law, 
seized  her  by  the  breasts  and  tried  to  outrage  her.  As  I  cried  out,  the 
lieutenant  came  up  to  me  and  held  his  revolver  levelled  at  my  face 
for  a  good  five  minutes,  and  it  was  only  at  a  noise  outside  that  we  could 
recover  our  liberty;  and  they  threatened  to  have  us  severely  punished, 
saying  that  we  had  insulted  them. 

"  The  next  day,   November  15th,  two  soldiers,   with  fixed  bayonets, 

took  us  to  the  kommandantur  in  L ,  where  an  officer  had  us  led  to 

prison,  where  we  remained  till  the  following  morning  at  11  o'clock 
without  water  or  food. 

"  In  the  first  week  after  their  arrival  in  B ,  they  looted  everything, 

our  provisions  and  our  wood,  without  troubling  about  our  existence  and 
without  giving  us  a  single  requisition  voucher." 


Annexe  200. 

Mme  M ,  aged  21,  day  worker,  deported  from  V (Somme), 

12th  January,   1916:— "My  husband's  brother,   G.    M ,   aged   20, 

was  taken  away  by  the  Germans,  who  made  him  work  for  five  months 
at  trenches  towards  M .     Then  they  brought  him  back  to  V ." 


Annexe  202. 

M.    A ,    aged   52,    factory   superintendent,    deported    from    C 

(Meurthe-et-Moselle),  Tth  January,  1916  : — "  He  states  that  the  Germans 
cut  down  all  the  walnut  trees  in  the  district  and  razed  the  State  forests, 
forwarding  the  wood  to  sawmills  which  were  running  day  and  night. 
They  removed  all  the  copper  that  they  found  in  the  country  and  levied 
a  contribution  of  .40,000  fr.     The  roads  are  mined." 


71 

"  Shortly  before  his  return,   2,000   Russian  prisoners  were   digging 

trenches  at  B (Meurthe-et-Moselle).     Other  prisoners,  Eussian  and 

French,   were   engaged   in  breaking   up   and   loading   ballast   to   make 
concrete." 


Annexe  207. 

Mme     C ,     aged     34,     small     holder,     deported     from     B 

(Meurthe-et-Moselle),  April  9th,  1915  : — "  States  that  she  saw  a  German 

officer  fa.sten  the  Mayor  of  B to  a  wall  and  threaten  to  shoot  him, 

for  not  having  opened  a  door  when  ordered  to  do  so ;  states  further  that 
the  enemy  made  her  son,  aged  12,  go  with  her  horse  and  cart  and  take 
planks  to  the  next  village  to  make  trenches — too  hard  work  for  a  boy 
of  that  age." 


Annexe  210. 

M.  H. ,  aged  16,  pit  hand,  deported  from  F at  the  end  of 

October,  1914: — "  On  the  approach  of  the  Germans  I  had  taken  refuge 

at  H (Pas-de-Calais),  at  my  aunt's  house.     On  October  24th,  1914, 

the  Germans  succeeded  in  taking  H and  the  surrounding  country  as 

far  as  L .     My  aunt  and  I  had  taken  refuge  in  the  cellar,  when  seven 

Germans  arrived  at  about  7  a.m.,  ransacked  the  house  and  discovered  us 
in  the  cellar.  They  made  us  come  upstairs  but  did  not  strike  us  or 
hustle  us.  One  of  them  spoke  French.  A  motor  was  waiting  at  the  door. 
They  put  me  into  it  between  two  Germans  with  fixed  bayonets.  My 
aunt  was  left  at  home. 

"  I  was  taken  to  the  plain  of  L ,  where  I  found  other  lads,  aged 

from  15  to  18,  from  the  district  of  H .     There  were  50  of  us.     They 

set  us  to  work  to  make  trenches  for  the  Germans,  and  we  were  kept  there 
six  days.  We  slept  where  we  were,  on  the  ground,  with  only  one  blanket 
against  the  cold.  Fortunately  it  did  not  rain.  The  food  was  bad, 
though  adequate  in  quantity.  When  the  work  did  not  get  on  fast  enough 
to  suit  them,  the  Germans  beat  us  with  horsewhips. 

"  At  the  end  of  six  days  we  were  all  fetched  away  one  afternoon  in 
motors — three  of  us  in  each ;   I  was  alone  in  mine,  however ;  we  were 

taken  to  L .     It  was  the  25th  or  2Gth  of  October.     We  arrived  after 

a  few  minutes.     Firing  was  audible  as  the  French  were  attacking  the 

main  bridge  at  L .     The  Germans  put  all  of  us  in  front  of  them 

to  act  as  a  shield.  The  officers  drove  us  to  the  front  with  horse-whips 
and  the  soldiers  with  their  rifle  butts.  They  all  hid  behind  us.  They 
swore  at  us  too.  As  the  French  went  on  firing  and  the  75's  were 
thundering,  several  of  us  fell.  We  were  kept  there  all  the  afternoon, 
standing  up,  with  the  Germans  behind  us,  firing  over  our  shoulders.  We 
were  terrified,  and  many  were  crying.  But  we  told  one  another  we 
must  stay  there  and  let  the  French  kill  us  rather  than  see  the  Germans 
win.  I  was  wounded  towards  the  end  of  the  afternoon,  and  was  hit  by 
a  shell  from  a  75  in  the  left  arm,  which  made  me  lose  consciousness. 
Thirty  out  of  the  50  were  already  killed  or  wounded.  Before  we  came,  the 
Germans  had  compelled  other  lads  of  our  age  to  serve  as  shields,  for  there 
were  still  a})out  10  of  them,  wlioni  we  saw  quite  clearly.  Also  tliere 
were  numerous  bodies  of  young  civilians  in  front  of  us. 

"  When  I  came  to  myself  again,  I  was  on  a  stretcher.  I  was 
surrounded  by  French  soldiers  and  a  medical  officer,  for  the  French  had 


72 

taken  the  bridg^e  at  L and  had  picked   me  up   in  their  advance. 

The  doctor  said  that  I  had  been  very  lucky  and  that  it  was  time  to 
put  stitches  in  my  arm  as  I  had  lost  a  great  deal  of  blood.  I  was  carried 
to  the  ambulance  at  B ,  where  I  stayed  some  days. 

"  I  heard  afterwards  from  my  companions  that  of  our  party  of  60,  40 
had  been  killed,  either  than  day  or  the  next ;  three  were  wounded  and 
only  seven  had  come  off  scot  free.     I  know  one  of  the  other  two  wounded 

very  well;  his  name  is  S (C),  and  he  is  IT  years  old;  he  comes  from 

H L (Pas-de-Calais).     He  was  taken  by  the  Germans  at  B 

M ,  where  he  was  working  in  the  mines  too.     He  was  wounded  in 

the  little  finger  of  the  right  hand  by  the  explosion  of  a  shell.  The 
third  one,  whose  name  I  do  not  know,  was  hit  on  the  left  wrist  by  a 
fragment  of  shell." 

(The  Justice  of  the  Peace  inspected  young  H 's  wound.     There  was 

a  long  and  fairly  broad  scar  close  to  his  elbow,  showing  that  the  wound 
was  a  serious  one.) 


Annexe  219. 

M,  V ,  aged  44,  machine  tool  fitter,  deported  from  M (Arden- 
nes), 13th  May,  1915  : — "  I  was  forced  to  cut  down  a  great  many  walnut 
trees  and  then  load  them  on  lorries,  under  the  supervision  of  soldiers 
with  fixed  bayonets  and  revolvers  in  their  hands.  We  were  overworked 
and  often  sworn  at.  We  were  told  that  anyone  who  gave  up  work  would 
be  shot  on  the  spot." 


b.  WoEK  IN  Factories  and  Mines. 
Annexe  225. 


Mme  Vve.  S ,  aged  24,  deported  from  S : — "  About  two  months 

after  the  Germans'  entry  into  S ,  which  took  place  on  August  28th, 

191*4,  placards  were  posted  in  the  town  offering  workmen,  principally 
those  from  metal  works,  occupation  in  such  factories,  to  be  paid  at  the 
rate  of  40  centimes  an  hour.  Few  men  volunteered :  seeing  this,  the 
Germans  collected  them  by  force  and  sent  them  into  the  factories; 
patrols  hunted  them  out  of  their  houses  and  took  them  either  to  the 
factories  or  to  the  quays  to  unload  boats  or  to  the  land  they  were  holding, 

to  dig  trenches.     In  the  works,   especially  in  the  M works,   they 

turned  them  on  to  repair  guns.  Then  the  Germans  again  commandeered 
about  3,000  young  men.  They  sent  some  of  them  to  Germany  and  kept 
some  to  work  there.     The  Germans  did  not  let  them  go  again ;  they  sent 

them  by  rail  either  to  Q or  to  P ,  where  they  kept  them  digging 

the  ground.  They  were  very  badly  fed  and  slept  on  rotten  straw.  When 
their  work  was  not  to  the  liking  of  the  Germans,  they  were  beaten  with 
scourges.  These  young  men  did  not  get  their  pay  direct;  it  was  handed 
over  to  their  parents  at  the  rate  of  20  fr.  a  month. 

"  The  men  who  worked  in  factories  were  generally  employed  in  gangs, 
and  so  with  those  who  cut  wood  and   made  planks  and   joists  for  the 

trenches  :    those  who  worked  at  S bought  their  own  food  and  slept 

at  home. 

"  As  regards  their  pay,  I  know  that  they  were  paid  in  paper  money, 
either  in  municipal  vouchers  or  in  German  mark-notes. 

"  On  the  16th  of  April,  1915,  when  the  station  at  S was  bombarded 

by  French  aviators,  the  Germans  commandeered  everybody  whom  they 
could  collect  in  the  town,  and  made  them  clear  up  the  debris." 


73 


Annexe  226. 

M.  P ,  aged  55,  deported  from  S : — "  I  never  worked  for  the 

Germans  myself,  but  I  know  that  a  certain  number  of  the  inhabitants 
were  forced  to  do  so.  Once  they  were  enticed  away,  they  could  never 
escape  again;  if  they  did  not  go  back  to  work,  the  Germans  sent  and 
brought  them  by  force. 

"  At  Mme  D 's  the  workmen  were  employed  on  repairs  to  motors; 

at  the  factory  M they  had  to  repair  guns;  at  the  factory  V , 

Boulevard  X,  a  steam  saw  mill,  400  workmen  were  engaged  in  making 
stakes  for  the  trenches;  these  were  paid  2  fr,  25  a  day. 

"  One  day  the  Germans  had  demanded  300  young  men  to  work  in  the 
fields ;  instead  of  using  them  for  agriculture,  they  made  them  dig 
trenches." 


c.  Making  Sandbags. 
Annexe  230. 


Mile    L .   aged  26,   brickmaker,   deported   from  S (Aisne) :  — 

"  Shortly  after  the  capture  of  S ,  the  Germans  compelled  me  to  work 

with  a  good  number  of  other  women.  We  had  to  wash  the  soldiers'  linen, 
but  especially  to  make  sandbags  for  the  trenches. 

"About  300  of  us  were  shut  up  in  a  school  in  the  town:  we  were 
forbidden  to  leave  the  building.  Reveille  was  sounded  at  5  a.m.  and 
we  worked  till  7  p.m.     The  work  was  done  in  gangs, 

"  The  women  who  refused  to  work  or  who  declared  they  could  only 
work  after  having  enough  to  eat  (the  food  was  very  bad  and  very  scanty), 
were  beaten  either  with  a  great  cat-o '-nine-tails  or  kicked,  or  a  large 
jug  of  water  was  thrown  over  them  and  they  were  beaten  afterwards. 

"  I  was  a  prisoner  in  the  school  for  11  weeks.  For  the  first  10  weeks 
I  was  not  paid  at  all ;  the  last  week  (we  had  been  told  we  should  be 
repatriated)  we  were  paid  at  the  rate  of  5  centimes  for  2  sucks,  in  paper 
money  issued  by  the  municipality  of  S . 

"  For  food  we  were  given  some  turnips  in  the  middle  of  the  day, 
some  carrots  in  the  evening,  always  boiled,  without  salt,  or  butter 
or  fat,  and  about  a  halfpenny  worth  of  bread  for  the  whole  day.  On 
Sundays,  sometimes  some  rice,  sometimes  potatoes  with  a  little  beef  fat. 

"  The  sacks  we  made  were  solely  for  use  in  the  trenches." 

(This  is  corroborated  in  Annexe  231  by  Mile  R ,  aged  "25,  of  the  siime  town.) 


Annexe  237. 

Mme  Ij~ — -  B ,  aged  27,  brickmaker,  deported  from  S ,  25th 

April,  1915  : — "  I  saw  the  Germans  ill-treat  a  girl  called  A ,  kicking 

her  in  the  stomach,  because  she  refused  to  sew  sacks  before  having 
anything  to  eat.  I  saw  her  seriously  ill;  she  was  given  three  days' 
imprisonment  and  subsequently  dc])orted. 

"  A  young  girl,  J G ,  of  S ,  living  Rue  J P ,  was 

beaten  with  a  cat-o'-nine-tails  and  liad  a  jug  of  water  thrown  over  hor  for 
having  asked  for  food  before  working.  The  work  consisted  chietiy  in 
washing  linen  and  making  sandbags." 


74 


Annexe  238. 


Mme   L B ,    aged   30,    schoolmistress,    deported   from   S 

(Vosg-es),  ITtli  April,  1915: — "The  Germans  compelled  several  women 

at  S to  work  for  them,  making  sandbags ;  they  had  to  make  a  certain 

number  a  day.  The  men  had  to  do  forced  labour  for  the  Germans : 
sweeping  the  streets,  maintaining  the  roads,  working  at  trenches.  They 
had  to  be  ready  to  answer  a  roll-call  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night." 


Annexe  239. 
Mme  L M ,   aged  26,   no   profession,   deported   from   M- 


("Nord),  16th  December,  1915  : — "  The  Germans  ordered  us  to  make  sand- 
bag's. When  we  refused,  they  imprisoned  us  in  a  factory  and  threatened 
to  shoot  us.  As  we  persisted  in  our  refusal  they  only  gave  us  a  slice  of 
bread  and  butter  a  day,  and  this  went  on  for  four  days.  To  prevent  us 
getting  any  sleep,  a  German  soldier  used  to  patrol  the  factory  at  night 
and  tickle  our  chins." 

(This  is  how  the  Germans  in  many  cases  got  people  to  contract  to  work,  and  afterwards 
represented  it  as  voluntary  consent.) 


Annexe  241. 

Letter  addressed  to  M.  Durre,  depute  dm  Nord,  in  Paris. 

*'  Monsieur  le  Depute, 

I  have  the  honour  to  inform  you  that  men  living  at  M and  F 

(Nord)  and  at  B (Belgium)  have  been  in  civilian  prisons  in  Germany 

since  July  17th  for  having  refused  to  work  for  the  enemy. 

Tou  will  find  below  an  extract  from  the  letter  giving  me  this  sad  news, 
which  was  brought  to  me  by  a  young  man  who  left  M on  July  29th  :  -t- 

"  At  the  beginning  of  June  the  German  police  in  M —  (Nord)  summoned  all  the  former 
hands  in  the  sawmills  who  were  still  there  and  ordered  them  to  work.  As  they  refused 
they  were  locked  up  in  the  Town  Hall  for  two  days.  They  set  to  work  on  the  3rd  day, 
as  they  were  told  they  were  to  saw  planks  to  make  huts  for  prisoners,  and  they  worked 
for  about  a  month.  At  the  end  of  that  time  they  were  ordered  to  cut  thick  blocks  ;  they 
refused  again,  saying  they  would  not  work  for  the  trenches.  Seventeen  of  them  were 
taken  to  S for  14  days  and  then  removed  to  Germany  on  July  17th," 

I  will  give  you  some  names:  C ,  V—,  B ,  R ,  all  from 

M (Nord),  the  rest  are  from  F (Nord),  M (Nord),  and  B 

(Belgium). 

These  men  worked  before  the  war  in  the  factory  C ,  of  which  I  was 

a  director  (steam  sawmills). 

The  work  was  done  with  the  rough  planks  we  had  in  the  yard  and  the 
factory  machinery." 


75 


The  Contracting  Powers  will  issue  to  their  armed 
land  forces,  instructions  which  shall  be  in  con- 
formity with  the  "  Regulations  respecting  the  Laws 
and  Customs  of  War  on  Land "  annexed  to  the 
present  convention,     {Hague  Convention^  Art.  1.) 

A  belligerent  party  which  violates  the  provisions 
of  the  said  Regulations  shall,  if  the  case  demands, 
be  liable  to  make  compensation.  It  shall  be  respon- 
sible for  all  acts  committed  by  persons  forming- 
part  of  its  armed  forces.     {Ibid.     Art.  3.) 


ANNEXE   C. 

OFFICIAL  FRENCH  AND  GERMAN  DOCUMENTS. 


It  seems  necessary  to  draw  the  attention  of  the 
Neutral  Powers  to  the  text  of  certain  French  and 
German  notes,  relative  to  the  work  in  invaded 
territories. 

The  view  of  the  Imperial  German  Government 
is  expressed  in  these  official  communications. 

These  texts  need  no  commentary.  A  perusal 
of  the  previous  pages  will  show  the  value  of  the 
statements  contained  in  the  following  German 
communications 


76 


Annexe  242. 

Telegram. 

The  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  to  the  French  Ambassador  at  Berne. 

Paris,  22nd  August,  1915. 

Please  forward  by  telegram  to  the  Spanish  Embassy  in  Berlin  the 
following  communication,  of  which  I  am  also  forwarding  a  copy  to  the 
United  States  Embassy  in  Paris  :  — 

It  appears  from  recent  information  that  the  German  authorities  are 
subjecting  the  population  of  the  districts  of  France  in  their  occupation  to 
labour  of  the  hardest  description  and  to  a  discipline  of  the  most  wanton 
severity.  From  the  deposition  made  on  oath  by  a  civilian  prisoner,  who 
has  succeeded  in  leaving  these  districts,  it  is  clear  that  at  Landrecies, 
the  inhabitants,  even  if  they  are  ill,  are  compelled  to  work 
from  6  a.m.  to  4  p.m.,  and  that  all  the  food  which  they  receive  is  a  loaf 
of  bread  every  three  days,  most  inferior  cofiee  in  the  morning,  rice  and 
vegetable  soup  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  and  in  the  evening  coffee  similarto 
that  of  the  morning.  The  author  of  the  deposition  in  question  affirms  that, 
after  an  attempt  to  escape,  one  of  his  companions  was  brutally  beaten 
and  kept  five  days  in  a  cell  with  his  hands  tied  behind  his  back ;  that  at 
Hancourt  (Somme)  eight  others  of  his  companions  received,  for  the  same 
offence,  more  than  200  strokes  with  a  horsewhip,  were  kept  without  bread 
for  two  days,  and  were  then  sent  to  work  under  the  supervision  of  German 
soldiers  armed  with  sticks. 

The  French  Government  would  be  grateful  to  the  Spanish  Ambassador 
at  Berlin  if  he  would  request  the  Imperial  Government  to  make  inquiry 
into  these  facts  and  to  communicate  what  steps  they  have  taken  to  improve 
the  situation  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  districts  in  their  occupation,  an 
situation  as  contrary  to  the  principles  of  humanity  as  to  the  rules  of 
international  law. 

The  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  ventures  to  beg  His  Excellency 
M.  Polo  de  Bernabe  to  be  good  enough  to  telegraph  the  date  on  which 
this  communication  is  handed  to  the  German  Government. 

(Signed)         Delcasse. 


Annexe  243. 

(This  note,  relating  to  the  employment  of  French  prisoners  in  Germany  and  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  invaded  districts  on  work  connected  with  military  operations,  was 
communicated  to  the  Neutral  Powers,  Only  the  part  relating  to  civilian  work  in  the 
invaded  districts  is  here  reproduced.) 

Extract  from  a  Note  hy  tlie  French  Government. 

Paris,  August  Slst,  1915. 

The  employment  of  prisoners  of  war  on  military  works  constitutes  a 
clear  and  flagrant  violation  of  international  law.  The  violation  is  the 
more  serious  when  the  compulsion  is  imposed  on  civilians  inhabiting 
invaded  districts.  In  the  terms  of  the  regulation  annexed  to  the  Fourth 
Hague  Convention  (Article  52) :  — 

Neither  requisitions  in  kind  nor  services  can  be  demanded  from  communes  or  inhabi- 
tants except  for  the  necessities  of  the  army  of  occupation.  They  must  be  in  proportion 
to  the  resources  of  the  country,  and  of  such  a  nature  as  not  to  imply  for  the  population 
any  obligation  to  take  part  in  military  operations  against  their  country. 


77 

It  appears  from  a  letter  from  Tourcoing,  dated  the  12th  of  June, 
1915,  that  the  Germans  in  that  town  assert  the  right  to  compel  the 
inhabitants  to  make  harrows  in  order  to  break  the  dash  of  the  Erench 
cavalry  and  sacks  which,  when  filled  with  earth,  are  used  as  shelter  in 
the  trenches.  The  Germans  have  the  workmen  seized  in  their  own 
homes  by  their  military  police. 

This  practice  is  confirmed  by  more  recent  documents.  It  has  extended 
to  Lille  and  the  whole  district.  The  German  authorities  assert  the  right 
to  compel  the  population  to  make  sandbags  for  the  trenches. 

An  interchange  of  correspondence  between  the  Governor  and  the 
Mayor  of  Lille,  M.  Ch.  Delesalle,  between  June  10th  and  21st,  1915, 
establishes  the  fact  that  the  German  authorities  intended  to  make  use  of 
the  Mayor's  influence  in  order  to  force  the  workmen  to  work  and  pro- 
posed to  impose  on  the  city  itself  the  duty  of  manufacturing  sacks.  An 
order  of  the  Kommandant  of  the  place,  von  Swerwis,  posted  at  Marcq 
on  the  27th  of  June,  1915,  makes  the  following  regulations  for  the 
manufacture  of  sacks  : — "  The  Kommandantur  will  deposit  in  each  house 
of  the  street  designated  the  material,  ready  cut  out,  for  the  preparation 
of  10  sacks.  The  first  distribution  will  take  place  on  Monday  at  7  a.m. 
(German  time)  and  the  sacks  will  be  collected  every  day  at  the  same  hour. 
The  first  distributions  began  with  the  Rue  de  Lille  until  the  new  order. 
To  make  up  for  lost  time,  for  the  first  two  days  15  sacks  will  be  dis- 
tributed per  house." 

The  following  shows  how  the  German  authorities  try  to  justify  these 
measures.  A  proclamation  by  the  Governor  of  Lille,  dated  June  oOth, 
contains  the  following  passage:  "For  some  days  the  French  workmen 
have  refused  to  go  on  with  the  work  which  they  had  hitherto  done  for 
the  German  authorities.  They  were  told  by  unscrupulous  agents  that 
their  action  was  contrary  to  Article  52  of  the  Hague  Convention.  This 
idea  is  absolutely  false :  Article  52  says  expressly  that  work  for  the  army 
of  occupation  is  allowed  '  if  it  is  of  such  a  nature  that  it  does  not  implicate 
the  population  in  military  operations  against  their  country.'  This  is  not 
the  case  with  the  work  demanded." 

But  it  was,  on  the  German  authorities'  own  showing,  a  question  of 
turning  out  of  sandbags  for  the  trenches. 

Here,  again,  is  an  extract  from  a  communication  from  the  Komman- 
dant of  Halluin,  Schranck,  to  the  Municipal  Council  and  leading  men  of 
the  town :  — 

"  It  is  not  for  us  to  discuss  on  whose  side  is  right,  because  we  are 
not  competent  and  shall  never  reach  accord  on  the  point.  It  will  be 
the  business  of  diplomats  and  representatives  of  the  diiferent  States  after 
the  war.  To-day,  only  the  interpretation  given  by  the  German  authorities 
is  valid,  and  for  that  reason  we  demand  that  everything  needed  for  the 
maintenance  of  our  troops  shall  be  produced  by  the  workmen  of  tlie 
territories  in  our  occupation.  I  can  assure  you  tliat  the  Gorman  military 
authorities  will,  under  no  condition,  waive  their  demands  and  their  riglit, 
even  if  a  town  of  15,000  inhabitants  has  to  be  destroyed  .  .  .  Return 
to  reason  and  see  that  all  the  workmen  come  buck  io  work  without  delay; 
otherwise  you  will  expose  your  town,  your  family  aud  your  persons  to  the 
gre  a  tcs  t  m  is  f ort  u  n  es . " 

(The  order  adds  :  "  Ihere  is  only  one  xcill  and  that  is  the  will  of  the  German  Military 
Authorities.") 


78 

As  regards  "  the  sanction,"  it  consisted  of:  — 

(1)  A  certain  number  of  sentences,  exceeding  in  some  cases  two 
years'  imprisonment,  promulgated  by  the  Military  Tribunal  at  Roubaix, 
on  June  25tli,  1915,  on  persons  convicted  of  "  having  been  present  at  the 
destruction  of  the  property  of  a  family  whose  members  were  working 
for  the  Germans  and  for  having  tried  to  prevent  them  working  by 
threats."  On  June  24th  the  bootmaker  Jacoby  was  condemned  to  death 
"  for  having  threatened  with  a  weapon  some  French  workmen  who  wished 
to  work  for  the  German  authorities  and  for  having  tried  to  prevent  them 
continuing  their  work." 

(2)  In  the  arrest,  effected  on  July  1st,  1915,  of  130  French  citizens  of 
Roubaix,  including  the  highest  industrial  and  commercial  notabilities, 
and  their  despatch  to  the  prisoners'  camp  at  Gustrow  (Mecklenburg). 
This  arrest  en  masse  was  effected  partly  on  the  pretext  that  these 
industrials  refused  to  work  and  to  employ  their  factories  to  supply  the 
needs  of  the  German  Army. 

Finally  there  was  a  succession  of  vexatious  measures.  A  proclama- 
tion of  the  Governor  of  Lille,  dated  June  30th,  compels  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Communes  of  Lille  and  Hellemmes  to  stay  in  their  houses  from 
6  p.m.  to  5  a.m.  (German  time).  At  Roubaix,  on  July  9th,  a  proclama- 
tion by  the  Kommandantur  insists  on  the  closing  of  all  shops, 
restaurants,  «&;c.,  in  the  towns  of  Roubaix,  Croix,  Hem,  Lannoy,  Lys, 
Sod's,  Mouvaux,  Toufflers,  Wa«quehal,  and  Wattrelos,  on  the  inhabitants 
staying  in  their  houses  between  6  p.m.  and  6  a.m.,  and  announces  new 
and  stricter  measures,  especially  the  deportation  of  certain  persons. 

As  the  attitude  of  the  population  remains  the  same  in  spite  of  these 
persecutions  (there  are  still  a  considerable  number  of  working  women 
in  prison  who  refuse  to  give  way),  acts  of  revolting  brutality  are  com- 
mitted, especially  in  the  villages.  It  is  clear  from  private  evidence  that 
at  Marcq  especially  some  working  women  who  refused  to  work  were 
locked  up,  kept  without  food  and  sleep,  and  struck  by  their  guards  when 
they  lay  down  or  fell  asleep. 

It  appears  sufficient  to  authenticate  the  definite,  repeated,  and 
systematic  violation  of  Articles  6  and  52  of  the  Fourth  Hague  Convention, 
which  forbid  the  employment  of  prisoners  of  war  and  of  the  inhabitants 
of  invaded  territory  on  works  in  connection  with  military  operations. 
From  the  majority  of  the  preceding  proofs  the  violation  of  the  texts  which 
forbid  the  employment  of  prisoners  of  war  on  "excessive"  labour  becomes 
equally  clear.  The  despatch  of  prisoners,  often  weakened  by  the 
fatigues  of  the  campaign,  by  illness  and  privations,  into  mines,  the 
employment  of  Russian  prisoners  during  March,  and  of  French  prisoners 
during  June,  to  reclaim  marsh-lands,  constitutes  not  only  a  definite 
violation  of  the  Hague  Convention,  but  a  monstrous  outrage  on  the  rights 
of  humanitv. 


Annexe  244. 

NOTE  VERBALE  OF  THE  GERMAN  GOVERNMENT. 

January  24th,  1916. 

The  French  Government  asserts  that  the  civil  population  of  the  French 
territories  in  German  occupation  has  been  subjected  to  treatment 
contrary  to  international  law  and  the  duties  of  humanity. 

The  Imperial  Foreign  Office,  referring  to  its  Note  Verbale  of 
November  30th,  1915  (III.  b.  26418),  concerning  the  situation  of  German 


79 

prisoners  in  the  camp  at  Casabianda(^),  has  the  honour  to  transmit  the 
enclosed  to  the  Ambassador  of  the  United  States  of  America,  with  the 
request  that  he  will  forward  the  answer  of  the  German  Military 
Authorities  to  the  French  Government. 

Reply  of  the  German  Military  Authorities  to  the  statements  of  the 
French  Government  concerning  the  alleged  ill-treatment,  contrary  to 
international  law  and  the  duties  of  humanity,  of  which  the  civil  popula- 
tion of  the  occupied  French  territory  is  said  to  have  been  a  victim. 

The  telegram  of  the  French  Government  to  the  French  Ambassador 
at  Berne  of  August  22nd,  1915  (Ann.  242),  transmitted  to  the 
German  Government  by  the  American  Ambassador  in  Berlin,  contains 
completely  erroneous  information  concerning  the  treatment  and  feeding 
of  French  civilian  workmen  in  the  occupied  territory. 

At  Landrecies  Frenchmen  of  military  age  are  compelled  to  work  in 
accordance  with  their  professions.  The  work  consists  principally  of 
fetching  wood  from,  the  forests  for  heating  purposes.  The  work  lasts 
from  T  a.m.  till  5  p.m.,  less  2  half -hours  generally  lost  at  the  beginning 
and  end  of  the  day's  work;  furthermore,  pauses  of  an  hour  and  a  half  to 
two  hours  are  granted  during  the  work.  The  amount  of  work  demanded 
is  less  than  that  exacted  from  German  workmen.  At  the  hardest  work, 
the  transport  of  wood,  each  group  of  two  men  has  to  transport  2-5  cubic 
metres  of  firewood  for  about  500  metres  every  day.  This  only  represents 
a  burden  of  about  20  kilograms. 

The  Commune  of  Landrecies  is  charged  with  the  feeding  of  the  work- 
men, at  a  payment  of  1  fr.  60  per  day  per  man.  According  to  the  report 
of  M.  Thomas,  acting-maj'-or,  who  is  in  charge  of  the  feeding,  this  sum 
is  quite  sufficient. 

The  workmen  receive  daily  about :  — 
350  grammes  of  good  quality  meat. 
500-600  grammes  of  potatoes  and  turnips. 
120  grammes  of  dry  vegetables. 
300  grammes  of  bread. 
15  grammes  of  coffee. 
30  grammes  of  sugar,  &c. 

The  municipality  lias  employed  the  savings  made  on  tlie  feeding  for  the 
purchase  of  clothing  and  especially  boots  for  the  workers.  The  evidence 
on  oath  of  the  French  mayor  Thomas  is  at  the  disposal  of  the  French 
Government. 

It  is  not  true  that  sick  persons  were  constrained  to  work.  A  workman 
who  reports  himself  ill  before  the  beginning  of  ihe  (hiy's  work  is 
examined  by  a  doctor ;  one  who  does  so  during  the  work  is  given  a  lighter 
task  or  sent  home.  It  is  true  that  workmen  are  punished  for  attempts 
to  escape;  they  have  not,  however,  been  subjected  to  corporal  punish- 
ment, but  merely  to  imprisonment.  One  of  them  set  fire  to  his  mattress. 
With  a  view  tf)  his  own  protection  as  well  as  that  of  his  companions, 
his  hands  were  tied  holiijid  his  b:iok  for  one  niglit.  liesides  the  Frencli- 
nien  of  militaiy  age  who  are  ronipelled  to  woik  under  the  aforesaid 
ronditions,  there  are  also  260  workmen  at  Landrecies  who  work  at  their 
'»wn  request;  they  receive  3  to  fi  fr.  a  day  and  provide  their  own  food. 

Some  Frenchmen  iit  JLincourl — ;ind  not  :it  Tlnuoonrt.  wlicro  no  l"'renrh- 
men  have  been  constrained  if)  work — were  transferred  to  Landrecies  in 
May.  1916.  A  seinching  en(|uiry  has  revealed  nothing-  to  lead  us  to 
suppose  that  up  to  that  date  workmen  who  had  tried  to  escai)e  had  been 

(')  The  camp  iit  Casabianda  has  boon  closed. 
90'J8  F 


80 

beaten  and  kept  without  bread,  and  tbat  the  soluiers  on  guard  who  acted 
as  escort  to  the  workmen  were  armed  with  sticks. 

The  trustworthy  French  Government  official  {Geivdhrsmann)  has,  con- 
sequently made  on  oath  false  statements.  It  is  superfluous  to  insist : 
AT  Landrecies,  Hancourt  and  everywhere  else,  the  population  of 
THE  French  territory  in  our  occupation  is  treated  in  a  just  and 

WHOLLY  HUMANE  MANNER. 


Annexe  245. 

The  document  of  April  15th,  1915,  mentioned  below  treats  of  the  work  of  French 
civilians  interned  in  Germany,  a  question  which  does  not  come  under  review  in  the 
present  Note.  Annexe  245  is  reproduced  here  to  show  the  opinion  of  the  German 
Imperial  Government,  which  the  French  Government  shares,  according  to  which  no  work 
ought  to  be  imposed  on  civilian  prisoners.  This  view  must  apply  even  more  forcibly  to 
free  populations  in  territories  in  the  occupation  of  the  enemy. 

NOTE  VERB  ALE  OF  THE  GERMAN  GOVERNMENT. 

In  reply  to  the  Note  Verbale  of  25th  January  (French  Affairs,  No. 
1360),  concerning  the  obligation  to  work  imposed  on  civilians  interned 
in  France,  the  Imperial  Department  for  Foreign  Affairs  has  the  honour 
to  bring  the  following  facts  to  the  notice  of  the  Spanish  Embassy :  — 

Up  till  now  the  German  Government  has  had  no  knowledge  of  the  full 
text  of  the  Note  from  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  in  Paris,  addressed 
to  the  American  Ambassador  in  Paris  on  15th  April,  1915.  Otherwise, 
it  would  not  have  failed  to  give  a  detailed  reply  to  this  Note,  a  reply 
which  would  have  contained  the  most  formal  protest  against  the  wholly 
unjustifiable  insinuations  of  the  French  Government.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  the  German  Government  on  23rd  April  last  only  received,  through 
the  American  Embassy  in  this  city,  an  extract  of  the  French  Note  in  the 
form  of  a  telegram.  If  the  French  Government  will  take  the  trouble 
to  read  again  the  observations  of  the  German  Government  of  8th  June 
last,  added  to  the  Note  Verbale  of  the  Royal  Embassy  in  Berlin  of  12th 
June  last  (iii.  b.  12770),  it  will  see  that  the  communication  of  the 
American  Ambassador,  based  on  the  data  of  the  French  Note  of  15th 
April,  were  dealt  with  in  those  observations  under  the  third  heading, 
in  which  the  German  Government  explained  in  detail  that,  in  face  of 
certain  affidavits  and  other  proofs  at  its  disposal,  it  felt  obliged,  in 
addition  to  a  formal  declaration  on  the  subject,  to  request  the  French 
Government  to  issue  strict  orders  to  the  commandants  of  internment 
camps  in  respect  to  the  compulsory  employment  of  the  interned. 

The  demand  contained  in  the  aforesaid  observations  of  8th  June,  and 
repeated  in  the  Note  Verbale  of  this  department  of  13th  December  last 
(iii.  b.  33565),  was  entirely  justified,  and  if  there  has  been  an  error,  the 
error  existed  solely  on  the  French  side.  Further,  while  the  German 
Government  has  not  tailed  to  communicate  to  the  French  Government 
on  the  proper  occasions  various  affidavits  by  civilians  who  have  returned 
from  France,  on  which  it  based  its  demand,  the  French  Government  has 
confined  itself  to  advancing  general  allegations  coucerning  the  employ- 
ment of  French  civilians. 

The  German  Government  sees  with  satisfaction  that  the  French 
Government  has  now  given  a  fresh  formal  assurance  that  German  civilian 
prisoners  in  France  are  not  compelled  to  work.     At  the  same  time  it  hag 


81 

reason  to  doubt  whether  the  orders  of  the  French  Government  are  every- 
where carried  out.  For  example,  according  to  the  reports  of  the  Swiss 
delegates  of  the  International  Red  Cross,  the  civilian  prisoners  from 
Medjouna  in  Morocco  have  been  compelled  to  do  hard  and  laborious  work 
since  the  1st  of  January.  The  German  Government  believes  that  it 
can  hope  that  this  measure  does  not  correspond  to  the  intentions  of 
the  French  Government,  and  it  hopes  that  the  latter  will  open 
an  immediate  enquiry  as  to  the  manner  in  which  its  orders  are  carried 
out  at  Medjouna,  and  that  the  state  of  affairs  in  that  camp  will  lead  it 
also  to  examine  the  situation  in  other  camps,  which  was  the  subject  of 
the  documentary  observations  of  the  German  Government  in  its  memo- 
randum of  8th  June  of  last  year  {Note  Verbale  of  this  Department  of 
12th  June,  III.  (b),  12770),  to  which,  however,  the  French  Government 
does  not  appear,  up  till  now,  to  have  given  attention. 

The  German  Government  has  no  doubt  that  the  French  Government 
will  again  issue  strict  injunctions  to  all  the  Camp-Commandants,  and  it 
ventures  to  hope  that  fresh  complaints  of  contraventions  of  these  instruc- 
tions will  not  reach  it  either  from  Medjouna  or  other  localities.  If  the 
German  Government  should  find  itself  deceived  in  this  expectation,  it 
would  have  no  option  but  to  proceed  to  energetic  measures  of  reprisal, 

Berlin,  March  22nd,  1916. 

The  documents,  letters,  extracts,  and  translations  annexed  to  this 
Note  are  certified  copies  of  the  originals  preserved  in  the 
Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

The  Minister  Plenipotentiary, 

Director  of  administration  and  technical 
affairs  in  the  Foreign  Office. 

Signed:   FERNAND   GAVARRY 


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